Mark The Multiverse Traveler
by ryukaiba60
Summary: The adventures of Mark as he travels through the multiverse seeking to participate in exciting stories, and ultimately find the one who can break his curse.(on hiatus)
1. The World of Mark

Please note that this story follows an OC, he was created from ideas I had when placing myself in various stories. Also, this is an introductory chapter that explains the world of the OC. This first arc takes place in that world, and after that will proceed to other worlds. This does not mean that the first arc is pointless though, every OC works better when they don't pop up out of nowhere. I own the OC and his world, all other material(unless expressly noted) does not belong to me. Also, keep a look out for any challenges I might post at the end of chapters. The winner of these challenges get to suggest a story for Mark to visit. Feedback is always welcome, so feel free to review or pm me. Thanks.

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 _The life and history of Mark Nelfarn. Information taken from the subject's memories(of his own will and choice) by Tēref Ōlōdur, last son of Alex Hendersen, first emperor of the Human-Trelyri Alliance, and brother of Fämul Dēlōrōf, current emperor of the Human-Trelyri Alliance. Information taken from Mark in the year 3435 after his marriage to Änēl Lōfänōt, last daughter and last child of Alex Hendersen._

Mark Nelfarn, a traveler of the multiverse. He has lived longer than any other mortal in existence, collectively speaking, and in those many millions of lifetimes he has done many things. He has watched the birth and death of stars, seen the rise and fall of countless civilizations, and gone on many thrilling adventures. However, before one can learn about the many things Mark Nelfarn has done, one must know about who he was and the life he lived before he traveled the multiverse. But, to understand him and his life, one must first understand the world he lived in.

His world was very similar to Earth. In fact, his world was another version of Earth. As is the case with any version of a planet in the multiverse, there was a major event that changed the outcome of the future of that universe. For the most part his universe had been the same as the REU (Regular Earth Universe), but when a universe needs something in particular, a person to be shaped a certain way, it changes things to get the outcome it needs. In the case of Mark, his universe needed him to be what he is, and that required many changes to be made to the timeline of the universe.

Most of these differences were people that lived on Earth in its history. In order for Mark to be who he is, his universe had to bring in people to his ancestry at certain points to bring certain qualities into his being. Most of these things, however, could not be normally found in his universe. In order to make him to be what he is, his universe worked with other universes to bring people with those qualities into his family line. Most of these people were not human, in fact if you were to look at his family line, only a small percentage of those people were human. Though the people who were brought in were only individuals, so they make up smaller portions than his human ancestry. The various beings that make up the majority of his ancestry, all of the non human humanoids collectively, make up almost half of his genetics.

There are other differences, mostly small, like the names of various regions, places, geography, but these were all brought about by the biggest difference between Mark's universe and the REU. That difference is that in the year 900, the world was invaded by a hyper advanced civilization of humanoid aliens. These aliens did not have a name, or language for that matter, as they were a telepathic people. Their species developed mental communication very early, leaving their simple language to drop out of existence. After thousands of years they became advanced enough to be able to start traveling to other planets. This was of course aided by the fact that they were fleeing their planet as their sun was about to go super nova.

As they traveled the galaxy, they realized that the other life forms in the galaxy might not communicate by way of the mind, and so decided to use a spoken language, as their records showed that they had one, and that would be how they could communicate. The major problem they faced was that their people no longer had any record of their previous language. They decided that they would use the language of the primitive species on whichever planet they took to be their new home.

As they traveled from the far edge of the galaxy, they scanned for planets that would be suitable to their needs. Eventually they found Earth and determined it to be the closest to what their planet had been. They landed their ships in the ocean and used their devices to study the life forms on the planet's surface. After finding that the humans were the dominant species and had language, they then decided to go and take their language for their own. They discovered, however, that the humans had more than one language. So they decided to sample all of the languages on the planet and have their computers calculate which one would be the best to work with.

They brought their ships onto the land and began to set up their new colony on the planet. The humans did not take kindly to these invaders taking their land, so the humans began to attack. The aliens knew that they could hold their own against the humans, but decided that they needed to focus on colonizing the planet as soon as possible with as few distractions as possible. They decided to kill all of the humans, and at the same time collect their languages for their computers to work with.

They gathered their forces together, then proceeded to take the land by force. The humans were quickly blown away like dust by a storm. They traveled around the planet, killing humans, collecting language information, and charting the planet in one neat package. Things couldn't have been better for the aliens. The same could not be said for the humans however.

As they were making their way through the world, the aliens eventually came upon the people living in the land those in REU know as England. They happened to like some of the parts of the language the humans spoke there, and decided to hold off on killing them until they had cataloged all of the languages of the Earth. After killing all but those in "Early England" and making record of the languages, their computers calculated various forms of those languages until they came upon what those in REU know as English. They learned this new language, taught it to the humans, and made themselves the rulers of the planet. They took the remaining humans and placed them all over the face of the Earth in order to repopulate them.

As time went on, the humans began to refer to their alien overlords as Outerlans. The aliens happened to like the sound of that title, and took it on as their official species name. The Outerlans decided that in order to keep their superiority over the humans, they would need to make sure that the humans could never catch up to them in technology. They then forced the humans to keep to their same levels of technology by banning the study of science. They also cloaked their cities so that the humans would never be able to see their technology. And so, the level of technology in Mark's version of Earth remained the same ever since.

As time progressed, later generations would never know what the Outerlans looked like. They usually kept to their cities and made preparations for later contact with other alien species. They would, however, speak to the humans to keep them in line. There were many humans who began to revere the Outerlans as gods, as the humans could not see them when they spoke, and punishment for breaking their laws was swift and feared.

Now that you know what his world was like, it would also be a good idea to have a basic understanding of his family line, the Nelfarn Family. This will not be a full blown family tree, rather, it will show how his family line led to his being in that universe. In the year 995, Mark's earliest known ancestor appeared in that world. As stated earlier, there were many in Mark's family line that were brought in from other universes. The first Nelfarn to be in that universe was brought in from another and was the first individual from another universe. His name was Toldaroch Matrivus Nelfarn.

The universe that Toldaroch was from was a very magic oriented universe. He was born into a very powerful magic family, an evil one at that. Over many years, the Nelfarn name had been feared, for their family had a magical book of spells containing every spell in their universe. With this spellbook, they had risen to power and had practically taken over their world. They had become so powerful that they could get away with doing anything they wanted, because no one could stop them. This eventually led them to kidnapping their wives and forcing them into marriage. One of these kidnapped women decided that there should be something that she could do to end their reign of terror, and she did it.

As she lived in captivity with the husband she did not want, she found out that the family was very dependent on their spellbooks. They were firmly against learning the various spells contained within the main spellbook, claimed to be given to the family by a dragon, and instead would use books linked to the main book with magic. These smaller books allowed for them to have access to their entire library of spells without having to take the main book out of the Nelfarn manor. She decided that if she could get rid of the main spellbook, they could finally be stopped. She secretly tried many ways to destroy the book, but it had been heavily protected with many spells. But, she found that it could be moved from its place, and if there was no access to it, the Nelfarns would be powerless. So she devised a plan that would not only save her world from the tyranny of the Nelfarns, but would also save her son from being raised by them and becoming evil like they were.

She knew, from her many years of living with the Nelfarns, that they had very powerful magic linked to an element that no one else in their universe had access to, Void. Using this element they were able to do things like control the flow of time, and even travel to other dimensions. She worked out a plan to use their own commodity against them by sending their spellbook to another universe. She studied in secret for five years, shortly after Toldaroch was born, and she had gained enough understanding of the spell to use it once. She knew she would only have one shot at this, so she made her preparations months in advance. She had taken that time to make a pendant for him with many protective wards placed on it so that he would be safe. Finally, the day came for her to make her move.

The day she had chosen was a day of feasting and celebration in the Nelfarn family. On that day, one of the older children in the family was to be going through his initiation to receive his own spellbook. Everyone was gathered out on the grounds of the manor, so no one noticed when she slipped inside with her son. She made her way to the room where the spellbook lay, displayed on its pedistal, and began her work. As she got everything ready, Toldaroch was sitting quietly on the floor. He had always been a good mannered and obedient boy, and that was going to be one of the many things she would miss about him.

Using her magic, she shrank the spellbook from its enormous size down to something more manageable, something a five year old would be able to carry, and put it in a small bag. She then opened a portal to the multiverse. She began to skim through the universes, trying to find one that would be safe for him. But she did not get the leisure of picking a universe, for she began to hear the sound of people walking through the corridors. The young man had finished his ceremony sooner than expected, and they were making their way to that very room to link his spellbook to the one now in the bag. She quickly chose a universe at random, hugged her son and told him she loved him and to be good, then had him walk through the portal. The portal closed right as the rest of the Nelfarn family walked into the room. She had won, and the Nelfarns could do nothing about it.

And so, in the year 995 in Mark's universe, Toldaroch exited the portal in a forest. He began to wander the forest, and was soon found by a group of women who were picking berries. They presumed that he was a child from their village, and took him there. Upon being asked what his name was, he replied with "To… Ma..." as he had not learned to fully pronounce his name. He did know his Family name though, the Nelfarns made sure of that, and since there were no Nelfarns in their village, he was adopted by one of the families. They changed his name to Tom, as it was easier to pronounce, and lived in that village for the rest of his life.

The Outerlans had made a law to keep the humans from becoming too populous. They decreed that humans were allowed to have no more than two children in a family. And so the Nelfarn name continued to be a singular family line, having fifty generations of one son and one daughter. The daughters each married off to various people in their villages, but the sons were married to, through the actions of the multiverse, those that were not from that universe. And so it went, all the way down until we reach Mark… and his sister.


	2. The Pendant and the Spellbook

The beginning of Mark's life and the start of the Intro Arc.

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 **The World of Mark**

Mark Nelfarn and his twin sister were born in the year 1095 which would be the equivalent of 1995 in the REU (Regular Earth Universe). Nobody knows the name or exact location of the village they were born in. This is because the village, whose approximate location in REU terms would be Tulsa Oklahoma in the United States, was destroyed for rebellion and its records were removed from Outerlan databases. The rebellion was started about a year after Mark and his sister's birth. Mark's mother, who was not from that universe, believed that the humans should be free to do as they please. She soon spread this idea around the village, slowly at first, until almost the entire town had the same idea. This eventually led to secret parties leaving the village in search of the location of the Outerlan towns.

Over the course of a year many of these secret parties, which only consisted of a few individuals, would leave and never return. After a few months, the idea was spread around the town that if they wanted to be heard, they would need to start disobeying the laws. The first, and only really, of the laws to be broken was the limit on children. It started in secret, with the women staying indoors after becoming pregnant. After about six months of secrecy, Mark's mother was the first of the women to come out into the open. Soon the others began to follow suit, until all of them had come out of hiding.

News of this was very quickly picked up by the Outerlans. Not long after, a message was sent to the village declaring that the village would be erased for their rebellion. The old, the young, the women, and the men who were not part of this rebellious movement all left the town upon hearing this message. Many of those who were part of the rebellion soon realized the grave mistake they had made. Several of the men and most of the women left the village in the hopes of making ammends for what they had done. The rest, including Mark's mother and father, stayed behind believing firmly that they were justified in their actions and desiring freedom.

All those who stayed behind died, and the whole village was completely leveled. The Outerlans then left, believing to have snuffed out the rebellion, but little did they know, Mark's mother's desire for freedom was passed down to Mark. A trait that would not truly surface until much later in his life.

After a few days of travel, those that fled the village came to settle in a nearby town.(REU equivalent does not exist due to major geographic differences, a ravine and part of a mountain range, in the vicinity) Mark's grandmother had been left in charge of his sister, but neither of them made it through the forest, and both were presumed dead. This left Mark to be raised by his grandfather. Under his father's direction, Mark's grandfather, Shane, took back the spell book and the amulet to give to Mark later in his life.

Mark grew up as a pretty regular boy, playing out in the dirt, rough housing, playing pranks on the girls of the town, and any other thing little boys did with the world being the equivalent of the year 900. But the day he turned eight was the day his life stopped being normal. It was on that day that his grandfather gave him the amulet and the spellbook.

That morning his grandfather had given him the amulet, which one could tell was a thousand years old due to the amount of tarnish on it, and told him never to lose it, or take it off, as it was special. He went around that day playing as normal, but began to take more notice of the various animals than he usually did. He wasn't sure why, but it almost seemed as if the various animal he saw that day seemed different. Part way through the day he stopped playing with his friends and just sat and watched the birds. He began trying to guess what they were thinking about. Worms, seeds, the movement of the wind and how it would affect their flying for the day, and other things of that nature. He did not know it at the time, but he had subconsciously picked up on the birds' thoughts.

When he came back to the house for lunch and to work on his chores for the day, his grandfather commented on the condition of the pendant. Confused, Mark looked and was shocked to see that what had looked to him like a green rock with a smoother black part in the middle connected to a dirty copper necklace was now a beautiful sapphire set in a band of copper inlaid with silver stars. He held it in his hands, still not sure what had caused it to change, but refusing to tell his grandfather what he was thinking. He had lunch, finished his chores, and went back out to watch the animals. Occasionally he thought he heard words coming from the groups of animals he watched, but didn't think much of it.

That evening his grandfather decided to show him the spell book. Mark was told to wait as his grandfather went to grab the "surprise". As he waited, Mark heard what sounded like a child with an unusually high pitched voice outside the window talking about finding food. His grandfather came back, holding the book behind his back. "Okay now, close your eyes."

He did, and he heard the sound of something being placed on the table. "Okay, now you can open them."

Mark opened his eyes and saw the book on the table in front of him. He wasn't sure what to make of it. It was small and looked ancient. _This is my surprise?_ He thought. Then he noticed that on the side of the book was written his family's name. The book looked like it would fall apart as soon as he touched it, but a curiosity began to grow inside him as he wondered what was inside the book.

"What is it?" Mark asked, staring at it with a bit more interest.

"This book has been passed down from father to son for a thousand years," said his grandfather, eyes gleaming slightly.

"What's in it?" Asked Mark, his curiosity was beginning to be very obvious on his face. He wasn't sure why, but he knew this book was very important, and he wanted to read it.

"If only I knew," his grandfather said. There was a sad look in his eye as he looked down at the book. "It is written in a language that nobody can read."

"Then why do we have it?" Said Mark, wondering how he was going to read the book like he felt he needed to. The curiosity was building in him, he wanted to pick it up and open it.

"We have it because it was given to our ancestor, Tom Nelfarn. He had been only five years old when his mother gave it to him, and it has been passed down through the family ever since." He paused for a moment, thinking, then said, "His mother probably knew how to read it, but he had not learned how to read yet, so that knowledge was lost."

Mark looked at the book, a sadness entering him as well. He then had the strong impression to open the book. "May I look inside?"

"Of course you can," said his grandfather, "just be careful, it is very old. It has some very interesting pictures, which I assume are the words and letters."

Mark went over to the table. He carefully opened the book to the first page. Upon looking at it he became confused. _Didn't he say this book was unreadable?_ "Grandpa, are you trying to be funny again? It's written in English right here." He pointed at the opened page. He certainly didn't see any pictures.

"What are you talking about boy? The only thing there are those weird letters that look like a chicken dipped its feet in ink." His grandfather said, a bit of irritation evident in his voice. "I wouldn't kid with you about something this important to the family."

"Look," said Mark, also with irritation in his voice, "It says right here, 'This book of magic was given to the Nelfarn family as a gift from Ōlēdu Ōdōrä.'"

"What?" His grandfather asked, looking at him then the book. He then went over to the table and picked up the book. "Obviously, you are not ready for this yet." He turned around and began to walk to wherever he had gotten the book from. "You can look at it again when you are ready to take it seriously. Making up names, magic, practically calling me a liar." He muttered.

"No grandpa, I can show you." Mark jumped up and ran over to his grandfather. He pulled the book out of his grandfather's arms and ran to the farthest corner in the room.

"What are you doing?!" His grandfather was becoming angry, and he turned around. "When I put that book up you are going to get it young man!"

Mark sat in the corner and had opened the book and was flipping through pages. _I need something, anything, to show him. I need more time._ Almost as if the book had heard his thoughts, pages of the book began quickly turning on their own, which was a strange enough sight to begin with as it didn't look like it had very many pages, and when it stopped flipping he had come to a page titled, Time Control. He looked down and before he could read below the title another page turned, and some words in the middle of the page began to stick out to him. He read aloud, "To start controlling the flow of time, imagine a panel with symbols depicted below on it and move your hand across your field of view." Below where he had read was a box with some symbols in a row.

Mark could hear his grandfather's steps picking up pace as he came closer. He didn't have time to think about it. He visualized the picture in his mind and moved his hand across his vision. As he did this, he felt an energy he had never felt before, flowing through his body and out his hand. As his hand passed in front of his view, the picture appeared in front of him in glowing white lines. The footsteps stopped.

"Whoa, that's cool." Said Mark, looking at the image, and then at his grandfather. His grandfather was standing there, gaping, not saying a word. He looked down at the magic panel again and saw that the symbols had changed. He didn't know what the first ones meant, but he knew these because he and his friends had made these to communicate certain words to one another. On the left was and inward swirl with an arrow in the swirl, this meant go back. To the right of it was a foot behind a line, this meant stop. To its right was a foot in front of a line, go. Then an outward swirl, with an arrow going out, go forward. Finally there was a person standing with a circle around him. He and his friends hadn't made that one, but he knew what it meant, space around yourself.

He then kept reading, "Think about what is to be affected by the flow of time." _Me, of course,_ "then choose the distance around that to be affected. He put his hand forward and touched the space around yourself symbol. Below it appeared a few other versions of that symbol, the first had no circle and the rest had increasingly larger circles. He touched touched the first one with a circle, and a thin white line traced itself around him. Then below that symbol appeared two more symbols, a circle where the inside was white and a white square with a non white circle in the middle. He touched the square and again two symbols appeared. This time a snail on the left, and a lightning bolt on the right. He and his friends used these to say slow and fast.

Mark looked up to see his grandfather recovering from his initial shock. "Get away from that thing boy." He began to move closer.

"No, I'm going to see what else this book can do." with that he touched the snail. He then looked up and saw that his grandfathers steps had become very slow. He touched the snail again and everything became even slower. He touched it again and everything became so slow that it was almost like it all stopped. Then he looked down at the book and continued reading. He read everything he could about time control; going forward, going backward, how to dismiss the panel, and even about changing the panel and choosing places before hand.

 _What other things does this book have?_ He looked at the book wondering how so many pages were in a book that small. _If only it were bigger._ Then the book began to grow. When it stopped growing it had become slightly larger than the few other books in the house. He then began looking through it, stopping on pages that interested him, and learned about some of the spells contained within.

Soon he decided that he would have to return to normal time. He ended the time control spell and closed the book. He stood up and looked at his grandfather. Then he walked toward his room. He stopped at the doorway and said, "Thank you for the gifts grandpa." He then walked in his room and shut the door.

His grandfather would then try to destroy the spellbook on several occasions. He tried fire, water, and even an axe, but each time (due to the protective spells on it) it came out unscathed. Eventually his grandfather gave up, and Mark kept the book and still has it to this day. From that day on, Mark would begin a journey that he never would have anticipated. But this didn't start until he was older.


	3. The Tower

For the next few years there was not much that happened in Mark's life. Mark never really used his magic except for the occasional prank on his friends or the girls. So life passed, relatively, quietly by until Mark was eighteen years old. It was at that point that he decided that he needed his own place, one where he could have privacy to do the things he wanted, especially practice his magic.

He had decided that he was going to make his home in a forest between his village and the village to the north of his. This forest was almost never passed through, due to the pack of wolves that claimed it as their territory, so people that traveled between the two had to go around on one of two paths, to the east through a mountain pass, or to the west through the ravine pass. This left the forest as the perfect location for his new home.

After Mark had packed the few possessions he had, he said goodbye to his grandfather, promised to visit, and left on his way. Of course, he did not tell his grandfather that he was going to be living in the forest. He didn't want anyone to know where he would be. He walked for several miles and eventually came to where the road turned east toward the mountain pass. He continued straight, leaving the road behind him and continued walking for several more miles.

One of the things he had learned over the years was how to communicate with animals. He was not afraid of the wolves, in fact, he had a plan to keep them from bothering him in the long term. He just had to make sure he worded things correctly. He had grown very fond of animals, but he knew there was a possibility that the wolves would not take him up on his offer. If that were to happen then he would have no choice but to kill the wolves. So he hoped very fervently that they would accept his offer.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, he prepared himself, _this is now or never_ he thought. He then began walking through the forest. He had not even gone half a mile before he was approached by the wolves. "What is this doing in the pack's land?" the alpha wolf asked. The other wolves were making comments about killing him or what he might taste like. Mark knew he had to be careful how he phrased his words.

"This one is not here for harm." he said, doing his best to follow after their manner of speech. All of the wolves became completely silent. He could tell they were more than a bit shaken by this as he heard some of them ask each other if he had heard them or what they would do.

"Silence!" said the alpha. The other wolves were immediately quiet. "So this understands one's language then?" there was some surprise in the alpha's tone, even though he spoke with the firmness of a leader. It was understandable as humans never had conversations with the wolves before that point.

"Yes, this one does."

"So what is this doing?"

"This one desires to live among the pack's land without harm." At that one of the wolves in the back began growling. It was probably much lower in the pack, this was proven when it yelped as it was bitten by one of the others and a "know your place" could be heard.

"This does not know that the pack has had this land for many generations? And this thinks that it can live here while the pack still lives?"

"This one does not ask for nothing, this one offers a gift."

"A gift?" The alpha was glaring at Mark. "What is this gift"

"This one does not have the gift now, as this one cannot carry it." at that the wolves began to growl. "But the gift is a food source." Mark did his best to look completely calm, but he knew it all hung on this moment.

"What food source?" The alpha ceased growling, but still kept his stance.

"This one desires a field in the middle of the land, and it will bring deer to live in it. These deer can be hunted freely by the pack."

The alpha was silent for a moment, then said, "There is a field in the land, but it is not big enough for deer to live and feed the whole pack."

"This one can make it bigger. Big enough to hold herds of deer and even many families of rabbits."

"How long will it take this to make the field that big?"

Mark closed his eyes and breathed in. "Days." he said. He heard the wolves whispering among one another. He heard many of them say things like days and how before the alpha silenced them once again.

"These can take days to clear trees with many of them, how can this clear in days?"

"This one is not like others of its kind."

The alpha was silent for a few moments. Finally he said, "Very well, this may have the field. The pack will show it the way." and with that, the pack turned around and began walking deeper into the forest. With a great weight now off his shoulders, Mark followed the wolves at a respectable distance.

After following the wolves for several miles in the forest, the trees began to become less dense. They then opened up to a small clearing in the heart of the forest. It was definitely not big enough for herds of deer. It was barely even big enough for a pair of deer. The alpha stood in the center of the clearing and looked straight at Mark. "Here is the field." he said. Mark could tell that the alpha was not quite sure what to think of him.

"This one thanks the pack. It will begin in the morning, now it will sleep."

With that the pack of wolves left the clearing, but not before each member got one final glimpse of him, then they disappeared into the forest. Mark then began building magical barriers around the field. It wasn't that he didn't trust the wolves, he was just making sure that he kept all of the animals out so they would be safe. Standing in the center of the field, he created a circular barrier to push out all animal life, then extended it. He extended it until it had a diameter of four miles. With the barrier in place, he unpacked a blanket and laid down to sleep.

The next morning the sky was clear. Mark got up, had some of the food from his bag, then began to work. Using his magic, he began pulling out trees and setting them in a pile in the field. Once he had a decent pile of trees, he then began simply knocking over the rest of the trees. Once all of the trees in his circle were down he then used his time control spell and contained the trees he had only knocked over. He then accelerated their time so they would decay in a few days. Knowing that it could sit without his supervision, he left the forest and went to the mountain in search of granite.

By the time he reached the base of the mountain, on which the forest still grew, it had become late afternoon. He then followed his magic until he found a large section of the mountain that was made of granite. Once he found it, he opened a portal to his field. He went back to his field and began preparations for his house. Using his magic, he dug out a large area where he would be putting the foundation. Using the dirt, he filled in the holes that remained from when he had pulled out trees, then used the rest to start covering his decaying trees.

After digging out the hole to the size he needed, he went back to the mountain through his portal and began cutting out blocks of granite. Block by block he began laying the foundation, then after completing the foundation he began laying blocks on top of that to start forming the basement. Using parts of some of his trees, he made reinforcements so he could lay the first floor. He repeated the same process until the end of the day came and he had the basement and three floors completed.

On the morning of the next day, he found that the trees in his time spell that were closest to him had finished decaying, being the ones he had covered, and moved the new dirt to cover more trees. Now having more space to work with, he then dug out six smaller holes around his main building. He then repeated his process on these holes. By the end of the third day he had completed the structures of his main tower, having seven floors and a basement, and his six smaller towers with six floors and a basement each.

On the morning of the fourth day all of the trees in his time spell had finished decaying. He leveled out the ground and started the process of the grass growing. By the time the end of the fourth day came, his seven towers were complete, and the field around was filled with tall green grass. He then released the animal barrier, and soon animals began wandering in. He went to sleep that night knowing that he would be able to begin his studies the next day.

When he woke the next day, he was ready to begin studying each of the elements of magic. He ate, then began preparing each tower for the study of each element. Soon after he had received his pendant, he had discovered that on the back was his family symbol. This symbol was part of what inspired the organization of his towers. The symbol was that of an uppercase N, but it was divided into five parts. In the bottom left, it looked like flowing water, above that it looked like a flame, in the bottom right, it looked like rough and broken rocks, and above that it looked like a swirling mass of clouds. In the center was nothing. Around the N shape was a border, the top half of the border looked like rays of sunlight, and the bottom half looked like a tangle of thorny vines.

Each of the parts of that symbol represented one of the magical elements; Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness, and Void. He had arranged his towers for the study of each individual element. He had three towers on the northern side for Fire, Light, and Air, and three on the southern end for Water, Darkness, and Earth. Finally there was his main tower, the top of which would be where he would study Void.

He spent a whole week in study, one day per element. He started with Void, then moved to Light, then continued counterclockwise from there. He studied all of the spells he could find that dealt with each individual element, How each element worked, how it affected the physical world, then moved on to combinations of two.

He was about to start working on combinations of three, when he realized he had been there for over a month. He decided, as much as part of him didn't want to, that he would back to the village and visit his grandfather. He placed a note for himself where he knew he would find it, gathered his things, and left.

As he made his way back to the village, he began thinking about what he might say to his grandfather. As each mile passed, he began thinking of possible outcomes of the things he would say. He finally determined that it didn't matter what he talked to him about, because one way or another it would lead to him and his grandfather having an argument about magic. He never understood why his grandfather was so bullheaded when it came to his use of magic. One thing he knew was for sure, he would not be visiting him again after this. He still had his other spell combinations to study, and after that he needed to begin working on how to break the grip of the Outerlans.

After hours of walking, he finally made it to the village. He made his way to his grandfather's house and knocked at the door. His grandfather answered it, a look of surprise evident on his face. "Mark!" he said, "I wasn't expecting you to come by for a few more months."

"Yes," said Mark, "but I figured that I lived close enough that I could let what I was working on sit for a day."

"Well, its good to see you. I'm glad you were able to set aside your plans to visit. Come on in and I'll get you something to eat."

Mark went in and sat down in the main room. Immediately memories started coming back to him. _Was it really only ten years ago since I got this pendant?_ As he thought this, he began remembering that day as he looked around the room. _It feels like it has been longer. Although,_ he thought, _it has been longer for me since I have used the time control spell so many times._ He was about to calculate the time he might have added to his life when his grandfather entered the room.

"Here you are," said his grandfather, handing him a plate with bread, cheese, and a piece of meat, "so how have you been?"

"I have been doing really well, and I've gotten settled into my home. Since when have you been able to afford meat?" As he said this, he popped a chunk of the bread into his mouth. He always liked the taste of the village bread.

"Ever since I haven't had to feed two grown men in this house." he said with a chuckle. "Have you been working?"

"Yes, and my work has kept me busy for the past month or so. Luckily, I was able to put things on hold and come down to visit." He ate some more of the bread and some of the cheese. He decided to save the rest for his trip back.

"That's nice to hear." then his face grew somber and he asked, "Are you still reading that book?"

Mark flinched internally. He was hoping that the conversation wouldn't go there. "Yes, I am." he said, equally somber. The room was quiet and Mark wanted to look away from his grandfather, but knew he must stay firm on his ground no matter how awkward the silence got.

Finally his grandfather closed his eyes and sighed."Well, there is nothing I can do to stop you, but may I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

His grandfather looked at him sternly, then said, "You need to get a wife."

Mark's mind went blank as his train of thought was completely derailed. "What?"

A grin slowly spread across his grandfather's face, then he began to laugh. "Yea, a wife is just what you need."

"Are you being serious or are you just joking around?"

"Oh I'm being completely serious. If you learn anything from this visit, it's that you need a wife. It would make your life so much more worth living"

Mark smiled, "Perhaps."

After chatting for a few more hours Mark left for his tower. All the way back he kept thinking about what his grandfather had said. Until that point, the idea of getting married had never occurred to him. He began getting the feeling he couldn't shake that his grandfather was right. He needed to get married, but that would have to wait until he dealt with the Outerlans. He wouldn't have the leisure to get married until then, as things would be too dangerous for him to have a wife just yet. And before he could worry about his plans for the Outerlans, he wanted to finish his study of magic.

He decided that the rest of his day would best be spent preparing for the other combinations of magic, so when he returned to his tower he began lining the walls with protective spells. Then the next day he continued his studies. He spent a little over three months until he had studied all one hundred and twenty seven combinations of elements. But each day he had worked, the thought of a wife was always somewhere in the back of his mind.

* * *

There was a challenge here where the winner could suggest a world/ story for Mark to visit, but since no one responded it will be gone for a while. It might come back later though.


	4. The Love

After months of preparation Mark was finally ready to enact his plan to free the humans from the tyranny of the Outerlans. He would show the world that science was not evil, as many of the humans had supposed given the ban on its study, and that the Outerlans were not all powerful gods but mortals with control over science. He had thought for a great while how he would do it, he would use one of the devices they left for the humans to use to expose them.

Shortly after the Outerlans had placed humans throughout the world, they had placed devices known to the humans as "Pedestals of Healing" near every town. Humans who were sick would come to it and let out some of their blood on its surface. After a few moments the blood would disappear and in its place would be something for them to eat that would cure them. The humans knew that blood was important to the body so most people had come to the belief that the giving of their blood was the price they had to pay to receive healing, but Mark had realized that the Outerlans were using the blood to find out what was wrong with the individual.

Mark had studied these using his magic and found that the Outerlans were gaining information from the blood itself. Based on this information, the Outerlans made personalized medicine for the individual. It was going to be hard to prove his knowledge about the medicine, as he didn't know what information they were getting from the blood, but he could reveal the Outerlans when they came to stock the pedestal.

Mark decided that he would enact his plan in his home village, as people knew him there and it would be much easier to convince them. He gathered his things together and made his way to the village, but for a reason he could not explain he was not only thinking of his plan, but also of the advice his grandfather had given him. He decided that he could at least look around for a potential wife in the village, and make arrangements for marriage after he gained the freedom of the humans.

When Mark arrived at the village, he made a brief visit to his grandfather and made plans to stay with him. He then went out into the village to look around. He had given himself about a week before the Outerlans would come to restock the pedestal, which would give him a week to find a potential wife. In his mind this was plenty of time, but as he looked around the village he discovered that he was rather mistaken.

Many of the young women he saw around the village were girls he had known growing up. Back then he couldn't have cared less about any of them, but he discovered that most, if not all of them had become very attractive. He quickly realized that he would need much more than a week to decide, which is why he knew he would have to wait until after he enacted his plans to seriously find a wife. He also noticed, from catching several of these young women staring at him then turning away bright red, that many of the girls who voiced preferring to die than be around him found that he had become a very attractive young man.

During the first few days of that week, he began discovering his preferences as he became reacquainted with several of the young women in the village. He found that he tended to talk with the young women that had blond hair like him, though there were some brunettes that caught his eye. Another thing he noticed was that he preferred the young women that kept their hair short, due to the practicality of taking care of it over that of long hair. He began wondering how he could possibly choose from all of his potential candidates.

On his fourth day in the village he went about his normal activity of going through the village and talking with the young women, when he bumped into someone and caused them to fall over. When he went to help them up he saw that it was a young woman in a blue cloak. As he helped her back up and asked if she was okay, he saw her face and recognized her. The unfortunate thing about this was that every possible thing that had been in his mind only seconds before had vanished. No longer was he thinking about the many young women in the village, no longer was he worried about who he could possibly pick for a wife, and no longer was he thinking about his plan to win human freedom. He did not remember these things because the young woman in front of him was none other than Alice Warner, a dear friend of his childhood years who had become the most stunning young woman he had ever seen.

Alice had been the only girl that he genuinely liked as a child, and the only girl he had not ever pranked, in the entire village. Unlike most of the girls, she was always thinking of others. She would help people around the village as often as she could, even going so far as to clean up several pranks the boys had pulled so that they wouldn't get in trouble. Mark had always cared about her, and in some ways had even considered her his best friend. And as he helped her up he realized that she had become something more.

As Mark let go of Alice's hand she thanked him and began brushing the dust off of her clothes. She looked back at him and began to blush. "I'm sorry for bumping into you," she said, brushing a lock of her golden hair out of her face, "I should have been more careful."

"No it's my fault," he said, still slightly dazed, "I should have been watching where I was going."

Mark looked her in the eyes, still amazed at how beautiful Alice had become. Soon her violet eyes began to sparkle as recognition sprang up on her face. "Mark!" she exclaimed, pulling him into an embrace, "It's so good to see you again!"

Mark's face began to feel very warm, and he could tell he was blushing due to the snickering of some young men nearby and some of the young women turning and walking away in a huff. "Its good to see you as well." he said, returning the embrace.

As they pulled away from the each other, Alice's face still shone with glee. "I still can't believe it's been eight years since we last saw each other."

"I know," he said, then drew close to her ear and whispered, "perhaps we could find somewhere else to catch up, we seem to have a crowd."

Alice looked around and noticed the many people watching, then turned to Mark and said, "Shall we go to our usual place then?"

Mark could feel an uncontrollable grin spread across his face as he said, "Yes, I think we shall."

Alice took Mark's hand and they both dashed out of the village to the nearby meadow. They crossed this meadow to a small cluster of trees at the bottom of a hill. At the top of this hill was a large solitary ash tree waving in the breeze. They climbed the hill and stood at the base of the tree. Alice stood in awe and said, "Wow, this tree has gotten much bigger since we were last here."

Mark climbed up onto one of the lower, sturdier branches and said, "Yes it has, but then again, it's been eight years and we have grown too." He reached down, offering his hand to Alice, and he helped her onto the branch where she then sat next to him.

Alice looked out into the vast fields that were visible from their perch in the tree on the hill, then said, "Everything is so vibrant and full of life this time of year."

"Yes," he said, also gazing at the fields, "it really is lovely." It was mid spring, and there were flowers everywhere. He then turned to Alice and said, "You know, it reminds me of you."

Though he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was blushing. Neither of them said anything for a while, and something told him that she felt the same way he did, but didn't know how to express it. He looked over at her, but all he could see was the hood of the blue cloak she was wearing. Finally he had to break the silence, "When you left, it was to take care of your grandma right? How was she?"

"She was doing fine, considering the fall she had. Considering her age she should have been in a worse condition, but she seemed to handle it pretty well." She was quiet again, and grabbed the sides of her cloak and pulled them around herself. Finally she said, "The healing pedestals can only cure sickness and small injuries, so they couldn't help her. Still it was amazing that she lasted as long as she did. Most people thought she would have died much sooner, but she lasted until last week.

She was quiet again, and Mark wanted so badly to comfort her. He slid closer to her, and as he did she took his hand. They sat like that for a while, and he would occasionally slide his thumb along the face of her palm. There were so many things he wanted to say to her; I'm sorry, is there anything I can do for you, I love you, but he couldn't bring any of them to voice. She brought her other hand up to her face, wiping away what he could tell was the tears she had been crying. Then she said in a slightly chocked voice, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, but now we are together again, and I will be here for you."

At that point she broke down into tears again and embraced him. He held her there as she cried and whispered, "It's okay, I'm here for you." As he sat there on the tree branch, he felt he could be contempt sitting with her forever in his arms, making sure that she was always safe.

Through her tears, Alice said, "Ever since the day I left, you were always somewhere in my mind. At first I didn't know why, but as time went on it slowly became more and more clear. Now I fully understand, but I can't find the words to express it."

"Then don't use words. Show me, and your actions will do all the talking."

Her crying subsided, and she pulled her head off of his shoulder. She lifted her head, looking directly at him, then wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in. In that moment, they shared their first kiss. He didn't know how long it lasted, but it eventually ended and they sat there again leaning against one another.

They spent the rest of the evening catching up until the sun began to set. While everything had a yellow hue, they climbed down from the tree and went back to the village hand in hand. As they passed through the meadow, Alice said, "You know, back there when I was crying, I wasn't sad."

"Oh?"

"I wasn't sad when my grandma died, even though she was doing well she was still in a lot of pain. When she passed I was happy for her because wherever she was, she was with grandpa."

"Then why were you crying?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"I was crying because I was happy, happy to be with you again."

The sun finished setting as they entered the village. Mark returned Alice to her home, then walked back to his grandfather's house. He went to his room, and went to bed feeling at peace. In his mind he believed that all was right with the world and that things were going to continue down this path. But the universe knew better, the universe had different plans.


	5. The Change

As Mark spent more and more time with Alice, the days became weeks, and the weeks became months. He was soon traveling to the village on a daily basis, and had even taken her to his tower on several occasions. He knew that he wanted to be with her, but he was always unsure about when he should ask.

This topic of course came up one evening with his grandfather. After having spent the day with Alice he stayed with his grandfather. They had been talking for a while when his grandfather finally asked, "So when are you going to ask to marry her?"

"I don't know, it's been on my mind, but I'm just not sure when I should."

"Well, do you truly love her?"

"Yes grandpa, of course I do."

"Would you do anything to make her happy?"

"Yes, I would."

"Would you protect her from any danger, even if it meant you would die in the process?"

"I fail to see where these questions are going."

"Well, answer the question and you'll find out. Would you protect her?"

"Yes."

"Then you should ask as soon as possible. If you really have these feelings then you shouldn't let anything stop you."

It seemed to Mark like a light had turned on in a dark room when it fully sank in. "You're right. I'll do it tomorrow morning, before Alice and I go anywhere."

"That's the spirit."

"Thanks grandpa."

"Of course. You know, ever since you were reunited with Alice, you have been a lot happier than you've been in years. I'd say that you were destined to be with her."

A word began reverberating in Mark's mind, he had never heard this word before, but it sounded vaguely familiar to him. He couldn't quite make out what the word was, but he knew it meant destined. He decided that it probably wasn't that important, so he headed off to bed so he would be rested for the morning.

When the morning came, Mark's mind was racing. He began rehearsing in his mind what he would say and did so all through breakfast. Finally he made his way to Alice's house. Upon reaching her house, he knocked and waited. When Alice opened the door she was ready to go, but before she could say anything he said, "before we go anywhere today, there is something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh, what do you want to talk about?"

"May I come inside? This is going to involve you and your parents."

After a moment her eyes lit up and she said, "Yes, of course, come in. I'll go get them." She then ran back inside and he followed. He went into the main room and sat down in a chair. As he had never been in Alice's house before, he looked around. He tried his best to keep calm and began going through what he was going to say again in his mind.

As Alice entered the room with her parents in tow, most of what he planned left his mind. Even though he knew her parents rather well and there was nothing about them he should be worried about, the prospect of making a love-struck fool of himself was not appealing. Her parents both sat down across from him, and Alice pulled up a chair next to him and sat down. She held his hand, which both reassured him and confirmed to him that she knew what he was going to ask.

"So," said her father, "What do you want to talk to us about?"

Mark knew that he was originally going to try to talk up the idea before actually asking, but after being unable to remember what he was going to say to draw it out he decided to go for a straight forward approach. Her father was a nice enough man that he figured there wouldn't be any harm in doing so. He silently steeled his nerves and said, "As you know, Alice and I have known each other for a long time now."

"Yes, you certainly have." Mark looked over to Alice's mother only to meet a hard gaze. It seemed as though the anticipation visible behind her eyes was heavily laced with suspicion and disgust.

Mark swallowed, then said, "I desire to have your daughter's hand in marriage."

Both of her parents were taken aback by his sudden jump to the end. Alice too, it seemed, was not expecting such a short and bold proposal. They must have all been expecting him to draw it out. After a few moments, her father burst into a hearty laugh which made both Alice and her mother stare at him. "Bold and to the point," he said, "I like a man that doesn't beat around the bush. You have my permission to marry my daughter."

With that weight off his shoulders, Mark was able to relax a little as they spent the next hour deciding when they would hold the ceremony. After deciding on one month from that day, Mark and Alice then went out to spend the rest of the day together. As they meandered their way through the village, Mark tried to make sense of the look Alice's mother gave him, but decided not to worry about it.

When they came to the village square, they saw an unusually large group of people gathered there. As they approached they could hear cheering, and they soon found out why. Several of the young men had started a stick pulling tournament, and two of Mark's closest friends, Jack and Kurt, were in a deadlock. Just as Mark and Alice joined the ring of spectators, Kurt managed a burst of strength pulling jack over and winning the match.

"That was a close round, but once again Kurt came out on top giving him his fifth straight win." Kurt's uncle Steve was acting as both announcer and referee. "Now, who will step up to challenge Kurt and try to claim the title of Stick Pull Champion?"

Mark turned to Alice and said, "I'm going to try it."

"Of course you are." She said, smiling, "You always have been and always will be a participant."

Just like the conversation Mark had had with his grandfather, a word he had never heard before began reverberating in his mind. Unlike the last time though, he was able to catch the beginning of the word, ne… He didn't know what this word was, or where it came from, but he knew that it meant participant. "What do you mean?" he asked, still trying to figure out how the word he didn't know starting with ne fit into this.

"You know," she said, giving him a slight pouty look that accentuated her violet eyes, "you can't ever just sit on the side and watch. You have to be part of it. So go out there and participate." As she said this she turned him around and gave him a gentle push that sent him through the crowd of people.

As Mark broke through the crowd, Kurt saw him and said, "Uncle, we have a challenger!"

Steve turned around and said, "Ladies and gentlemen Mark Nelfarn has stepped up to try and take the title from Kurt. Will he succeed, or will he walk away only adding another notch in Kurt's wins count?"

The crowd began to cheer again as Mark walked to the center and sat on the ground in front of Kurt. Kurt was older that Mark by a year, and was also bigger than he was, but Mark didn't really care about winning, he just liked to participate as Alice had said. Steve then came over and placed the stick between him and Kurt. Mark placed his hands on the stick first, leaving enough space for Kurt to put his hands inside or outside his own.

Kurt placed his hands on the outside of Mark's. On the signal they both began to pull. After a few seconds, Mark was pulled up and over Kurt, losing him the round. The match was two out of three though, so Mark still had a chance to win. As Mark had lost the round he was given the choice of starting position. He chose outside, and on the signal they pulled. Mark pushed against his opponent's feet, then pulled with his back and finally his arms, causing Kurt to go tumbling over him.

Whoever won the last round would determine the winner of the match, and Mark was ready to face whatever happened. Kurt chose the outside and on the signal they pulled. That time around they were both tired, Kurt probably more so as he had been doing this for a while. They were in a deadlock, neither of them moving an inch, but each of them pulling with his might. The excitement of the challenge began to get to Mark, and he could feel his heartbeat begin to accelerate.

Mark could feel his heartbeat all over, yet for some reason, something was off. The pulsing in his head began to slow just a bit, and the pulsing in his legs sped up by the same amount. Soon it felt like he had three different heartbeats in his head, chest, and legs. Then he felt an energy similar to the energy he felt when he first used magic, but it was also different. It coursed through his body, then with renewed strength, he pulled Kurt over him and won the match.

As the crowd cheered, Mark's heartbeat began to slow down again. Soon there was no sign that there had been what felt like three heartbeats. As he stood Steve said, "And with that, Kurt's win streak has been broken. Mark is our new champion. Alice then burst through the crowd and embraced him.

"That was amazing," she said, "it looked like you two were going to end in a draw, but then you won!"

"Yeah, it was amazing." he said, still unsure of what happened. Still, he took Alice's hand and said, "Come on, let's go to the usual spot." They then raced off away from the crowd to the fields outside the village despite the displeasure of the crowd. They talked the rest of the evening and ended the evening sitting in the tree watching the sunset. He then returned her to her house, then walked back to his tower. He was thinking of how he could use his magic to reveal what was going on that caused the strange phenomenon, when he remembered his plan to reveal the Outerlans. Upon having this realization, he purposely cursed for the first time in his life.


	6. The Reveal and the Experiment

For an entire week, Mark beat himself up for forgetting his plan. _How could I have let myself get so distracted?_ he thought on many occasions. He had been carefully planning for months, waiting for the right moment to expose the Outerlans as not being as "all powerful" as the others thought. It would be several more months before they would come back to the pedestal. The thought crossed his mind about going back in time, but he quickly decided against it. He was still very unfamiliar with parts of his time control spell other than the slowing down of time, and he didn't know how many repercussions could come from going back in time. He had done some thought experiments about going back in time, and all of the possible outcomes seemed a little too risky for him to try.

Eventually he calmed down and decided he would worry about it later. He still had a long life ahead of him, but he did realize that he would have to remind himself of it so he wouldn't forget again. With his mind no longer weighed down with his failure, he made his way to the village again to spend his time with Alice. Their day together passed like most, but around midday they went to their tree on the hill. On days like that day, with clear skies and crisp air, they would go to the tree and watch as herds of deer would graze in the field.

As they sat there on their usual branch cuddled next to one another, Alice reached over and ran her finger up Mark's side. A shiver ran down his spine, and he began to shy away from her finger. One of the things he did not like to admit was that he was very ticklish. Alice soon realized this, and redoubled her finger tracing efforts. As she slid her finger up his side he began to laugh, and then scooted away again. He turned to her and said, "Two can play at that game," and he began to tickle her. She began to laugh, a bright and clear laugh, and she tickled him again.

As she reached over to tickle him again, he began to slide away out of her reach, as ticklish as she was, Mark knew that he was even more so. However, as he slid away from her, he lost his balance and fell out of the tree. He hit the ground with a hard thud, then heard Alice say, "Mark are you okay?" He then rolled over on his back, he hadn't fallen out of that tree since he was a child, but back then the tree had been shorter and he had been lighter.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, letting out a sigh, "nothing I can't handle." Alice sighed, shaking her head, then began to climb down from the tree. Mark went to sit up, but pain shot through his left arm as he put pressure on it. Using only his right arm, he sat up and looked at his left. On the side of his hand was a lot of dirt, and a pretty nasty looking scrape, but his wrist was more concerning to him as he noticed that it was beginning to swell. _It's probably broken,_ he thought as he tried to move his fingers, noticing quite a bit of pain as he tried moving his pinky. Luckily he could use his magic to heal it once he got back to his tower.

Alice came over, and upon seeing his hand said, "Oh dear, that looks really painful."

"It's not too bad," he said, using his right arm to stand, "it only hurts if I try to move it."

"We should take you to the pedestal so you can get your hand healed."

He was about to object, but then a thought occurred to him, he could use this to his advantage. As Mark had never been seriously hurt or sick before, he never had the opportunity to be close to the pedestal, but now he would be able to get firsthand experience with it, and be able to expose whatever it was they were hiding. "Yeah, your probably right." Alice then walked over and placed his left arm over her shoulder and wrapped her right arm around his waist and began walking toward the village. He could have commented about how it was his wrist that was broken and not his leg, but decided against it as he liked having her there.

Eventually they made it to the pedestal just outside the village. As they drew close to the pedestal they saw the pedestal helper wrapping the hand of the man who stood before it. The position of pedestal worker was a volunteer position that rotated on a daily basis. On that day, Mark's grandfather happened to be the one filling the position. As Alice and Mark approached, he said, "Well you're the last person I would expect to see here Mark, did you perfect run of good health finally run out?"

"No grandpa, I fell out of a tree and broke my wrist."

"Fell out of a tree huh?" he said, rubbing his chin, "You haven't done that in years. Did you two just get a little feisty up there or was there tickling involved?"

Mark felt his face grow very warm and he turned away then said, "Shut up grandpa."

"I'll take it as the latter." he said with a slight chuckle, "You always were sensitive to tickling, but just relax and step up to the pedestal and let it work it's magic."

"I highly doubt it's magic." he said, lifting his arm over Alice and walking forward.

"You're right, it probably isn't, and _you_ would be the one to know."

Mark stepped up to the white stone that made up the pedestal. It reached just above his middle and had a large square face. The face then began to glow with a soft blue light, and a female voice said, " _Please state your name._ " there was an odd reverberation in the voice that told Mark that the voice was not natural.

"Mark Nelfarn." he said in a firm tone. The irony was not lost on Mark as he thought about the fact that he was seeking aid from those he considered his enemy.

After a few moments the voice said, " _There is no other information besides your birth records. Is this your first time using the pedestal?_ "

"Yes it is." He could already tell this was going to be a much longer process than if he had healed himself with magic. But he knew he could expose the Outerlans, so he dealt with it.

" _I see. What seems to be the problem?_ "

"I fell out of a tree, and I think my wrist is broken."

" _I see, please place your injured hand over the pedestal._ " He placed his hand over the pedestal, and the blue light began to glow a little brighter. After a few moments the voice said, " _You have several fractures in your wrist and your pinky that have lead to swelling. There is also a large abrasion on the side of your hand. Assistant, please make a cut on the abraded area to draw a small amount of blood._ " His grandfather then pulled out a small knife, and carefully made a small cut on the side of his hand. As a small drop began to well up on his hand the voice said, " _Please place your blood on the surface of the pedestal._ " He placed his hand on the surface, leaving a small smear of blood and dirt on the surface.

The pedestal began to glow, then after a few moments the blood and dirt began to disappear. " _Interesting,_ " the voice said, " _besides the dirt and a small amount of plant material, the blood is completely clean. Please place your arm on the pedestal._ " He did, and the pedestal began to glow again. Then he winced as he felt something pierce his skin, though he didn't see anything.

"Don't worry," said Mark's grandfather, "that small pain is only temporary, it should fade quickly."

The pain did fade quickly, including the pain in his whole wrist. Just before he lost all feeling in his hand though, he thought he felt something slide across his wrist, though again he couldn't see anything but the glow of the light. After a few moments, Mark decided that it was time to expose the true nature of the pedestal. He began mentally reciting a spell he had found in his spellbook for disrupting illusions.

As he finished the spell in his mind, he felt the magical energy flow through him and out his right hand. As the magic collided with the pedestal, a patch changed from white to silver, and began to spread over the entire surface. Alice gasped as she and his grandfather saw several spindly pieces of metal bent over his arm as the spell reached the top. One of the pieces had a beam of light coming from the tip, and the light held the skin of his wrist open to the point where he could see bone. "Fascinating." he said.

Mark's grandfather looked over at him with a mad and somewhat worried expression on his face, then said, "Mark, what did you do to the pedestal?"

"There was an illusion on the pedestal, and I removed it." As he said this, he watched as several spidery pieces moved bits of his bone into their proper places, then shone beams of light causing the bone to weld together again. Mark could tell the pedestal had done a very good job removing his sensation of pain, which he knew he should be feeling based on what he saw. Soon his skin was lowered back down and a beam of light passed over, removing any trace of his skin being open.

Afterward the metal pieces retracted back into the face of the pedestal. Then the voice said, " _Please remove your hand from the pedestal._ " He did, and then there was a short high pitched sound that came from the pedestal. Then the voice said, " _Sensory alteration field_ _dissrupted_ _, restoring._ " Mark saw tiny lights dotting every surface of the pedestal other than the top, which had a smooth pane of glass. After a few seconds, the pedestal phased back into looking like white stone.

"What were those things?" Alice asked, still very shocked at what she had just seen.

"I don't know," said Mark, "but I would assume they are part of the pedestal." As if cued by Mark's words, the face of the pedestal began to glow. On its surface, an object shaped like a very tiny egg began to materialize.

" _Eat this so your bones can regain their strength as your hand heals over the next day._ " Mark picked up the object and put it in his mouth. It had the consistency of a hard boiled egg, but tasted like pure honey. As he chewed, he began to gain feeling in his hand again, and he began moving his hand around. There was no pain, or even any indication that he had been injured. _Well,_ he thought, _at least the Outerlans can do a good job on something useful._

As he swallowed the rest of his egg like object, he turned and grabbed Alice's hand and began to walk away. "See you later grandpa." he said, leaving his grandfather to stare as he walked away.

As Mark and Alice drew closer to the village Alice asked, "What was that anyway?"

"The pedestal had an illusion over it, or as it put it a 'sensory alteration field', to hide what it was truly doing. I removed the illusion so I could see what it was doing."

"I understand that, I was wondering what the thing on your arm was."

"I don't know, all I could tell was that it was part of the pedestal. I would like to find more of the things the Outerlans are hiding from us, but the pedestals are the only things we know of." Just before they entered the village, Mark stopped and turned to Alice and said, "I'll need you to tell everyone in the village what happened at the pedestal.."

"Aren't you going to tell them as well?"

"I would, but after everything that happened, I need to rest. Just remember, don't tell anyone about my magic, you and my grandpa are the only ones who know of my magic, and I don't want the Outerlans or any of the villagers to get suspicious."

"Okay." she said, holding his hands in hers.

"Thank you." he said, giving her a hug. "I'll be back tomorrow." And with that, Mark started back toward his tower. As he walked away, he thought on the current situation, soon Alice was going to be his partner in life, but before that could happen she became his partner in rebellion. He smiled at the idea as he continued walking.

As Mark reached the forest, he realized he was hungry. Normally he and Alice would have eaten lunch together, but after the events of that afternoon, they didn't get the opportunity. He decided to wander through the forest to find some kind of fruit tree, as he had no real idea what kinds of trees were in this forest. He turned from his normal course and walked through the shady forest. Just being in the calm and beautiful forest was making him feel better. Soon he heard the sound of a squirrel giggling to itself, and he went to investigate.

What he found was a squirrel dashing back and forth between the base of a large pecan tree and its den somewhere a few yards away. Scattered all around the base of the tree were hundreds of pecans, many of which were old and crumbling into the dirt. As the squirrel dashed off, Mark sat down and began picking up some of the pecans. After a few moments the squirrel returned, but stood at a distance frozen in fear. "Don't worry," he said to the squirrel, "I won't hurt you, and I don't plan on being here very long anyway."

The squirrel slowly crept closer, then it grabbed a pecan and dashed off. A little while later the squirrel was back, still creeping toward various pecans, and dashing off. After about the fourth time it became comfortable with him being there and continued about normally. One of the times it came back Mark asked it how its day was. Reluctantly, the squirrel began to talk, explaining how he had had an average day collecting nuts and seeds. The squirrel then perked up as he talked about finding the pecan tree, and how he had been filling his den. He knew winter was still a ways off, but he explained that he liked to be prepared. The whole time the squirrel was talking Mark sat, listening and eating pecans.

After the squirrel finished his tale, Mark thanked the squirrel for his story then stood. He gathered a few more pecans and made his way away from the pecan tree and the squirrel. When he was far enough away, he opened a portal back to his tower and went inside to get a more complete meal. He set the pecans down on his table and went over to grab his bread and dried meat. When he came back to the table though, he noticed that among his pecans were several stones roughly the same size as the pecans. _An easy mistake_ , he thought, _it was rather dark in the forest._

He then sat down, and was about to take a bite of his bread, when he noticed something in his teeth poking his gums. Using his tongue he fished the thing out, and found that it was a small piece of pecan shell. _I must have missed part of the shell when I was eating those pecans earlier._ But then he realized that he didn't remember shelling any of the pecans. He had been listening to the squirrel and had been eating the pecans. So either he had been subconsciously shelling the pecans or… no… it couldn't be.

Mark picked up one of the pecans and began turning it over in his hand. At first he thought the idea foolish. But decided to try it, just to be sure. Surely it wasn't the case right? He raised the pecan to his mouth and began to bite down, expecting to meet resistance. There was a crunch, but he easily bit through the pecan as if it had been his bread. He began to chew and the pecan, shell and all, was easily ground to bits by his teeth. He swallowed, it was truly remarkable, his jaws were strong enough to bite through a pecan shell with no problem.

But then a moment of shock filled his mind and he turned to look at the rocks among the pecans. _No, I couldn't possibly…_ He picked up one of the rocks and held it for a few moments. He lifted the rock and bit down, only to drop the other half of the rock in horror as he bit cleanly through. On an impulse he finished chewing the rock and swallowed it, feeling as the grit of the rock slid down his throat. Soon the initial shock of his discovery left him, and he became intrigued. Then a thought came to him, what would his body do with the rock? He decided that he had to find out.

Mark ran over to his spellbook, searching for a spell to help him follow the path of the stone. The book then began magically flipping through pages on its own, until it stopped on a page titled "Material Trace". He quickly read through the spell, then grabbed one of the rocks from the table. Focusing on the rock, he cast the spell and it began to glow with a soft yellow light. He closed his hand around the stone, and the light could be seen through his fingers.

Then using light magic, Mark made a reflective wall allowing him to see his whole body. In the reflection he could see the rock glowing through his hand. He then put the rock in his mouth, and was still able to see it in the reflection. He quickly grabbed his bread from the table, as he was still hungry, so he could eat as he watched what happened. He chewed the rock until it went from a single glowing shape to filling his whole mouth with a yellow glow.

Mark swallowed, and watched as the mass of yellow began traveling down his throat. As it slid down, part of the mass stopped part way down his throat. Worried that it had gotten stuck, he turned to get some water. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something in the reflection, he looked and saw that the mass that stopped had entered some sort of hollow behind his throat. He watched as the rest eventually made its way into his stomach. He realized that the hollow must be some sort of stomach, which puzzled him as he knew he was only supposed to have one stomach.

Several hours passed, and during that time the yellow went from being piled at the bottom of his stomachs, to being completely mixed in a liquid inside. At that point he yellow continued out of his stomachs and began to enter his blood. He watched as the yellow was carried through his body, he noticed the yellow cluster in three areas of his body. One of these areas was his heart, but he noticed something shaped similar to his heart down much lower in his body. The last one was more spread out, but it was wrapped around his head. Each of the clusters had the same beat as his heart. Then his having different heartbeats started to make sense, he had three different hearts.

Soon the yellow continued through his body, and began to settle in various places. As time progressed he realized that these places where inside his bones. Finally he had found his answer, his body incorporated the rocks into his bones. His body processed normally inedible things like rocks in order to strengthen his bones. With that information, he then ended his two spells. He began to wonder if there were other things he could eat, like metal, but he decided that it would have to wait for another day. It had gotten late, and he needed his rest. He knew that from that point on he would be eating a lot more rocks.


	7. The Curse

Thanks to Alice Mark's plan started coming together. Everyone in the village knew they could trust her, and the idea that the Outerlans were hiding something soon began to spread. He knew that once they were married, his plan could then further unfold. And so Mark waited for the next stage of his plan.

When the last week before his marriage day came, he began seeing less and less of Alice. She had to spend her last week with her family preparing for the wedding. This left him with extra time to do more studies on his body. He learned during his studies, using a similar process to the rocks but on the air, that he had several of what could be considered lungs. He breathed in the yellow and most of it traveled down into four areas in the lower part of his body and some of it went to his head. When he breathed out the yellow went up from the four areas and then went throughout his body through his blood.

After that experiment he was left with nothing else to do, so he glanced through his spellbook while eating rocks for the remainder of the time. But when the day before the wedding came he decided to go to the village to talk to some of his old friends. By the time the afternoon rolled around his friends had started talking about girls and particular traits they preferred. One of them made a comment about preferring long hair, to which Kurt replied jokingly, "Well, we all know Mark would disagree with you on that."

"What are you talking about Kurt?" asked Mark, with a slight sheepish laugh.

"Don't try and act like its not true Mark," he said, a sly grin on his face, "when you first started looking around you practically avoided any girl with long hair."

"Well, I mean..." said Mark with a nervous laugh, "it's not that I don't like them, I just think shorter hair is more practical." He started thinking back to that first week so many months ago. Had he really ignored a bunch of the young women simply because they had long hair? The thought weighed on him, and he began to feel bad.

His feelings must have started showing on his face, because one of the other guys soon had his arm around Mark's shoulders and said, "But Mark here is with Alice now, he'll be married to her tomorrow and he is so in love with her that she could have hair to her knees or no hair at all and he wouldn't care. Give him a break."

Eventually Mark left his friends and went off to the tree and view the landscape. While sitting in the tree he thought about when he fell, and how if he fell again he wouldn't be breaking any bones this time. He looked over at the mountains, noting that the leaves higher on the mountain were beginning to change color. Fall would be there soon, and then his birthday. It was late in the afternoon, almost evening, when he noticed Alice coming to the tree.

As Mark climbed down from the tree a sudden chill in the wind caused him to sneeze, giving him a bit of a headache. As Alice came closer he realized that her head was tilted down and that she was looking at the ground. "Is something wrong Alice?"

She then looked up, blushing ever so slightly, and said, "Oh, no, nothing is wrong. I was just thinking." She reached up and started fiddling with a strand of hair that hung in front of her face. "There was something I wanted to talk with you about."

"Ok, what is it?"

She blushed a little more, then turned around and took a deep breath. She looked really nervous, and it almost looked like she was shaking. "Have you wondered why I always wear this cloak with the hood up?" She looked like she was trying very hard to keep her composure.

"It was your grandma's right?"

"Yes, but that's only part of it." Her cloak shifted as she reached her hand inside her hood.

 _Is she hiding an injury?_ Thought Mark, _She seems to be rubbing her neck._

"Before I left to take care of my grandma I kept my hair short. We were so busy while we were taking care of her that my parents and I forgot that I wanted it short." She reached up and pulled down her hood revealing her golden hair, which she then pulled out of the back of he cloak to let it cascade down until it reached her waist. "I would have cut it after she died, but she asked me not to. She told me that it made me look really pretty. I hope your not mad at me for hiding it from you."

He was going to answer, but another chill wind passed by causing his headache to worsen. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on his temples, hoping the pain would quickly subside. After a few moments he heard her say, "I'll see you tomorrow." and she began to walk away. When the pain finally let up he looked up to see Alice a decent distance away. He decided to head to his grandfather's house before he went home so he could get something warm to drink, as it would be bad if that happened again on the way home.

As he walked toward the village he thought about what had happened. _Of course I'm not mad,_ he thought, _like the others said, I love her and I wouldn't let something as silly as the length of her hair to change that._ When he got to his grandfather's they had a warm meal, Then Mark was sent off with an extra coat. As he walked back he couldn't help but think about Alice. There definitely seemed to be something off about her during that short conversation but he wasn't quite sure what that was.

Soon after leaving the road on his route to his tower, he began looking around as he never paid much attention to his surroundings on his way home. As he continued walking the cliffs that dropped off into the nearby ravine started closing in on his left, though he was going in a straight line. As he walked by a cluster of bushes, the wind picked up and chilled him. He quickly wrapped his coat around him tighter as he sneezed again. _Perhaps it's dust in the air that's making me sneeze,_ he thought as the pain from his headache came back.

He looked up and thought he saw someone sitting on the cliff, but before he could get a clear look the wind picked up, causing his headache to worsen again. He quickly clutched at his temples waiting for the pain to leave. Soon it subsided, but his head still throbbed. He looked up, to try and see the person on the cliff, but they were gone. _I must have imagined it,_ he thought, _but at any rate, I need to just go back to my tower now and get to sleep._ With that he opened a portal to his tower and went to bed.

Mark awoke the next morning with all signs of his headache gone and the day being much warmer. He looked outside to find everything wet. _That explains it, it rained last night. I've heard some people tend to sneeze more when it's about to rain._ With that out of his mind he prepared to head to the village to be married.

By the time Mark arrived at the village people were already arriving and waiting in the village square. The people of the village welcomed him and some even gave him early congratulations. But the joy of the occasion quickly turned to worry as Alice's mother came rushing with the news that Alice was missing. The people divided into groups and began searching as far as they could around the village. Mark rushed off to the tree, only to find that she wasn't there. He quickly went back to his tower to see if she was there, but she wasn't. He even asked the wolves if they had seen her, but they hadn't. By afternoon he still hadn't found any sign of her.

As he walked back to the village he came to the spot near the edge of the ravine that he had passed the previous night. He walked over to where he thought he had seen the person and looked around, only to find nothing. He carefully leaned over the edge of the ravine to look down. All he could see though was lots of large rocks and the old dry riverbed that was now used as a trade path. He even went down to the bottom of the ravine with a portal and searched for a few hours, to no avail. Finally he went back to the village in defeat.

As he neared the village for the second time that day he once again saw people gathered in the square. He ran to the village in the hopes of someone having found her. As he came closer however, he found they all had their heads hanging low and those that were talking looked be speaking in hushed tones. He slowed his pace realizing that they probably hadn't found her. When he was close enough for them to hear him he called out, "Any luck?" which caused glances to start shooting back and forth through the group.

Finally a woman from the group came walking up to him. She tried to speak, but seemed as if she were unable. Finally she turned and beckoned for him to follow. As they drew near the crowd Mark noticed that they were all standing around a tradesman's cart. On the back of the cart was a large bundled up blanket, and a knot started to form in his stomach. The middle aged man that owned the cart looked at him, cap in his hands, and said, "I found her early this morning as I was coming down the ravine. I rushed here as soon as I could, assuming she was from this village."

He slowly stepped over to the cart and stood there for a moment. Then fighting against what seemed to be invisible ropes holding his arm, he reached out and grabbed the blanket. He slowly lifted it, to find Alice lying there, with short golden hair spilling over her bruised and battered face and her cloak soaked in blood. He heard gasps behind him as he felt tears welling up in his eyes. He let both his head and the blanket drop, and he brought his hand to his face. As he and several of the others in the group began to cry, Mark felt a hand on his shoulder as the tradesman said, "I'm sorry for your loss." to which Mark fully broke down and fell to his knees in tears.

Soon the other search parties returned and were given the news. A few men and women took Alice's body to be prepared for burial, and Mark's grandfather took him inside his house. An hour later, Mark was asked where she should be buried, and he took the group of men to the base of their tree. After the grave was dug, Alice was soon placed inside and her grave was closed and marked. A few of the women soon approached him and handed him her cloak, which had almost all of the blood washed out of the blue fabric. With that memento in hand, he slowly walked back to his tower. The sky was clear and the air was warm as the sun began to set, and Mark wished the sky would cover itself with the clouds from the night before rather than mocking him with its beauty.

It was dark when Mark finally made it back to his tower, which seemed to comfort him only slightly. He climbed the stairs of his main tower and found, adorning a chair in the middle of the room facing away from the fireplace, Alice's mother with a glare like iron. "What are you doing here?" he asked, more than a little bewildered, "my door was locked." It had also been protected with magic.

"You aren't the only one who can use magic boy." Her words were dripping with venom and hate, and upon saying "boy" a fire jumped to life in the fireplace leaving a thick dark shadow to trail from where she sat to where Mark stood.

Her statement was news to him, slightly troubling news at that, and Mark became concerned. "Whatever you want make it quick, I need to spend some time alone."

"Oh you'll have more than enough time to be alone when I'm through with you." Her last word was accentuated with a sudden surge in the flames, causing her shadow to dance across the room. "Alice is dead because of you, all because of your own pride." Again there was a burst in the flame, but the color changed from its usual orange to a deep crimson.

"What are you talking about, she fell into the ravine. I don't know what this is about, but I had about as much to do with her death as you did."

"Silence!" Crimson flames erupted from the fireplace, though everything was untouched. "The universe had your destiny laid out for you. You were following it to the letter, then you allowed your feelings to overcome you and fill you with pride."

"What destiny? There is no such thing."

"The Outerlans!" She stood as she screamed the word and green flames erupted behind her, singing several items near the fire. "You were supposed to relinquish their hold on this world and leave so you could accomplish what another universe desired your creation to fulfill. But you allowed Alice to distract you not once but twice. You befriended her rather than growing your powers, so the universe sent us away from you, then you fell in love with her and allowed that love to distract you from your goals. Now as punishment the universe took her away leaving me to further turn you back to your correct course."

Tendrils of darkness shot out from her shadow and latched onto Mark, bringing him to his knees and pinning him in place. "Originally I was only meant to be a contingency plan, but you forced the universe. Now you have the most powerful sorceress in any existence backed by the will of the universe to set you straight." She walked forward and held her hand out in front of her, and a ball of flame leapt onto it from the fireplace. When it made contact with her it turned from green to a black deeper and darker than the shadows that bound him. "If you had spent your time more wisely the universe would have let you keep her, but now you have to pay the price."

The tendrils then forced Mark to look up, as she slammed the ball of black fire into his face. The pain was excruciating, and he tried to scream but the fire absorbed the sound. After what felt like an eternity, the black fire and the tendrils of shadow disappeared leaving him to collapse on the floor. "It's a shame that part of this was Alice's fault, though not directly. She was born with only half of a soul, so she naturally latched onto you seeking completion. Her hair was supposed to be a deterrent, given your strange hatred for long hair, but her fear caused her to hide it from you. She always hated keeping secrets from you. Now that fear has been repurposed to shield you from distraction. Think of it as a curse that won't go away until you complete your job."

She walked over and lifted his face off the ground. "Ooh, terrifying." she said, placing him back on the ground. "I also took the liberty of adding another stipulation to breaking the curse as a form of incentive." Mark tried to question her, but he was left so weak that all he could manage was a grunt. "What is this stipulation? You'll know your job is done when you can find a woman who can face her fears square in the face, see you as you truly are, and still love you without any reservation. Basically, when you find another Alice." She then began to walk down the stairs, but stopped and came back up. "By the way," she said, snapping her fingers and causing a wave of energy to flow over him, "pride is not very becoming, so I went ahead and attached the thing you hate most to the curse to help humble you and get rid of your bigotry."

With a "goodnight" she turned and continued down the stairs. Her shoes clicked down the stone steps and grew faint as she eventually left the tower. The sickly green flames faded away from the fireplace leaving him alone in the dark. He tried to get up, but his body was too weak to respond. All his body seemed able to do was cry, so he cried. Whether his tears came from emotion, loss, exhaustion or some combination, he would never know. But what he did know, and what he would always know, was that he was tired. As he slowly cried himself to sleep re realized that he was more tired than he had ever been in his life, and he would later come to know that the only time he would ever feel more tired is when he finally finished his job. Then with nothing but his tears to keep him company, he faded into unconsciousness.


	8. The Challenge

It was still dark when Mark woke up. He was still very groggy and couldn't move very much, but at least he could move. He rolled over onto his back and noticed that the room was cold. Realizing that he was still holding Alice's cloak he pulled it over himself to fend off the cold. Though he knew she was gone, it almost felt like Alice was there giving him a hug. He then remembered the strange event with Alice's mother and reached his hand to his face. He felt the charred flesh and, though it didn't hurt, he remembered the pain.

Eventually he stood and shifted the cloak to his back and looked around. The wall around the fireplace still had black marks from the magical fire but his furniture, which had been magically protected, was undamaged. Though everything was dark, there was a small amount of light coming in through the open window. He walked over to shut the window, but when he got there he noticed that everything was covered snow. _There shouldn't be snow for another few months,_ he thought. He closed the window and went to light the fire, but after placing the logs in the fireplace he noticed that he couldn't light them with his magic. _Perhaps I need to eat and regain some of my energy._

Mark then went downstairs to his pantry. _After I regain my energy, I can also find out how Alice's mom got in here._ But when he opened his pantry he found that everything inside was rotten and moldy. _How is it all rotten!?_ he thought, _I could have sworn everything was fine._ He then thought about it and decided he must not have checked it enough. He would have to go to the village and get more food. He decided it would be better to get his food at another town, as he didn't think he could handle being around the people from his village.

Mark gathered the money he had and began to make his way north. All the while as he traveled he wondered why everything was covered in snow. Maybe winter came early this year, but that wouldn't make sense as summer wasn't technically over yet. What he could tell though was it was very cold, and he was glad he had Alice's cloak. After several hours of walking he finally made it to the road that led to town. He realized it must have still been early in the night when he woke up, as the sun had still not risen by that point.

As he traveled along the road he saw a person in the distance traveling in the opposite direction. When the person came within hearing distance Mark asked how far away the next town was, and he was answered that it was only two hours away. As they passed each other though, they caught a glimpse of one another. For a moment it looked like the man was afraid of something, but he thought little of it. He realized that it was probably his burned face. When he got to the town he would make sure people didn't see his face.

When Mark finally made it to the town, the sun had been up for an hour. He knew that the bakery wouldn't be open for at least another hour, so he passed his remaining time at the tavern. He had never liked the idea of alcohol before, the thought of drinking yourself into a bumbling fool didn't appeal to him. He only stayed the hour to not be in the cold, but when he left he finally understood why men drank. If it weren't for the fact that he knew he needed to be of a sound mind, he probably would have joined the men in drowning their sorrows despite the time of day.

The baker was waiting for the next batch of loaves when Mark walked in. Keeping his head down, Mark ordered a few loaves of bread and even purchased a sack of flour. He was asked to wait a few minutes for the batch to come out, and in the mean time had to try and dodge as many of the baker's questions as he could. Mark really didn't want to talk about what had happened, he knew no one would believe him if he told them, and it hurt too much to talk about. Finally Mark was on his way with his bread and flour.

Mark ate one of the loaves as he walked back, and soon he had enough energy to open a portal to his tower. He ate for a few more hours until he could tell his strength was back. He knew he would need to do something about his face, but he wasn't sure what. At any rate, he decided to see just how bad his face was. Using his regained energy he made the reflection spell.

He only saw it for a brief moment, but where his face had been was now a blackened shell so dark that it seemed his eyes were swimming in an infinite void. But the blackness quickly spread outward from the reflection of his face. The darkness quickly escaped the confines of the reflection spell, until he was entirely surrounded by an inky blackness. He looked around, unsure of what was going on. Then he began to hear whispers, he couldn't make them out, but he could tell that they were full of fear.

 **Your fault…**

Mark looked around, wondering where the person was who said it.

 **She's gone…**

Mark was becoming worried at that point. What did the voice mean?

 **She's gone and it's your fault…**

"What are you talking about?" He looked around, then ran toward where he thought the voice was coming from.

 **Alice…**

An image of Alice's dead body appeared before him, causing him to stop. "I didn't do anything! She fell! It was an accident!" He turned and ran again, he could tell he was afraid but he had never known fear like this before.

 **Alone…**

The voiced had become louder at this point, and suddenly there was a crowd of people around him. When they saw him they turned and ran away screaming, though he heard no sound from them. The people all looked to be afraid, of him.

 **FOREVER!**

As the voice screamed, the people quickly disappeared one by one until he was left alone. "No." he said, his hand shaking. "NO!" He quickly covered his face and closed his eyes. When he did the whispers stopped. Everything was pounding and his body was shaking, but he soon opened his eyes to find everything back in its normal state. He ended the reflection spell, then sat on the ground until he calmed down. He had no idea what that was, then he remembered that Alice's mother had mentioned something about fear. He realized that that was why the man looked scared, that was what she had done to him. Anyone that looked at him would be shown their worst fears.

When Mark finally gained his composure, he went over and closed the window, then started a fire. He then went and grabbed his spellbook to see if there was anything he could do about his face. It brought him to a page for a face changing mask. As he read it he found that it was usually used for disguise purposes, but he would use it to look like his former self. In order to make it he would need flour, ashes, water, and crushed red berries. He had the flour, he would soon have the ashes, and water was easy enough to get, but where would he get crushed red berries?

He then remembered that there was a holly bush near his tower, even in this un-seasonal snow it would have ripe berries on it. He rushed outside and found not a holly bush, but an entire cluster of holly bushes. He didn't think about it, but instead grabbed a handful of berries and rushed back inside. After a few minutes he had everything ready and began the process. Following the directions of the spellbook, he placed a handful of flour into a bowl, then a handful of ashes and mixed them together. He then added water until the mixture was a thin paste. Finally he crushed the berries, then added them to the mixture until it fairly closely resembled his skin color.

As the spellbook directed, he then placed his hands into the bowl. He then closed his eyes and pictured his face. As he pictured it he brought the mixture to his face and rubbed it on, channeling his magic into the mixture as he did so. Once he covered all of the charred skin, he waited a few moments, still thinking of his face. When the mixture was dry he finally opened his eyes. He rinsed off his hands, then quickly used the reflection spell, taking only quick glances in case he looked at that curse again, but only saw his regular face.

Mark knew this mask was not a permanent fix, as it could be peeled off, and seeing that there was still some in the bowl, he decided to store it for later use. He didn't want to have to make new batches any time his mask came off, so he consulted his spellbook to find a way to both store and replicate it. He found a section on pocket dimensions with replication capabilities. Doing so he would not only be able to store the mixture indefinitely, he would basically never run out. He placed the pocket dimension inside a small bottle and placed the rest of the mixture inside. He then decided to repeat the process for his bread and placed the pocket dimension in one of the pockets in the cloak.

He then started cleaning up and quickly realized that everything was covered in a very thick layer of dust and cobwebs. He proceeded to clean everything off. As he did so he came to a few realizations. He knew that that amount of dust and cobwebs did not simply accumulate overnight, it came from an extended period of not being cleaned. Soon things began to make sense to him, when he collapsed he must have been asleep for months, which was why it was winter, though there were still a few things he was unsure about.

Eventually the room became warm enough that he didn't need to wear the cloak anymore. He took it off and draped it over one of the chairs. He then continued cleaning the room, but when he went to pick up something off the ground, he noticed his hair falling down and dangling in front of him. He knew he had been asleep for a while, but didn't think it had been long enough for his hair to go from very short to down at his waist. He quickly went and grabbed a knife to cut it down to a more manageable length.

Mark grabbed his hair and the knife and quickly went to cut it, but as he slid the knife over his hair, the knife did nothing. He tried again, but to the same effect. It seemed his hair refused to be cut. Irritated at this, he then tried to burn it, but again the hair was unaffected. He quickly realized that his hair could not be damaged in any way, and it was stuck at that length. He began to feel upset, but quickly began to wonder why, he didn't really have a problem with long hair, and perhaps he needed the change. But as he began thinking about his quickly rising emotions, he noticed that his vision was beginning to blur. Then his vision began to fade to black, and he realized he was on the verge of passing out. Unsure of what was going on he struggled to stay conscious, and through his sheer force of will he managed to stay completely aware.

When he did manage to keep his wits about him, he noticed that he was moving all over the room. As he was moving he was also throwing things across the room and breaking everything in sight. He had no idea why he was doing this, but he soon found that he couldn't stop himself. His body was behaving all on its own. He was screaming, though it was not truly him screaming. When he ran out of things to break, he began to punch the walls and floor. He fought against it, trying his hardest to regain control of his body. Exerting all his will, he finally managed to divert one of his punches. Instead of punching the wall, he ended up punching himself, and snapped out of whatever had come over him.

A flood of anger and memories washed over Mark as he regained control of himself. But these hateful memories and emotions had never entered his mind before, and certainly not toward long hair as the memories suggested. Then it dawned on him, these _were_ his feelings and memories. He had experienced this anger and hatred, but it had been suppressed. For years he had been subconsciously holding back these thoughts and feelings, and he was now facing them as they were for the first time. In rage he punched the floor one more time, he remembered what Alice's mother had said before he was completely out, she had added something he hated to the curse. He determined to break the curse, he would break the Outerlans' hold over the people, then he would find her and make her pay.

Mark grabbed his spellbook and Alice's cloak then began to make his way to the village. As he put the cloak on, he decided that blue would not be suitable for what he was going to do. No longer was he going to wait on a plan, he would challenge them directly. He flipped through the spellbook and found a spell for changing the color of clothing. As he walked out of the tower he changed the cloak from its deep blue to pure black.

He decided that there was no longer any point in hiding his abilities. He would use them to his full advantage. He opened a portal to the middle of the village, in the light of day. When he appeared in the center of town there were gasps from the few people braving the cold and snow. He quickly trudged his way to the pedestal, he knew that by destroying it they would be sure to come running. As he walked over he noticed that he started to amass a decent crowd, he didn't care. He was on a mission and he would complete it no matter how many watched.

As he closed in on the pedestal, he quickly destroyed it with an explosive ball of fire. In seconds there was a booming voice from the sky saying " _You who have desecrated the pedestal, explain your actions!_ "

"I am Mark Nelfarn, and I have come here to demand the freedom of the human race!"

" _You dare to challenge the might of the Outerlans?"_

"Yes, because I know that your power is nothing compared to mine!" With that he cast a spell to remove illusions from the area. When he did, he and the cluster of people saw that the sky was filled with various forms of flying machines. As quickly as they appeared, the Outerlans began to shoot beams of light at him, which he just as quickly countered with darkness. The people began to flee as an all out battle erupted against Mark.

He found that using his magic, he could absorb the energy from their attacks and use it to fuel his spells. One by one he efficiently removed the flying machines from the sky. But as soon as the sky seemed clear, much larger machines began to appear. They descended upon his position, and though he was able to take out a few of them, they were far bigger and stronger than the ones he had previously destroyed. Soon Mark was surrounded by several machines that blasted him with beams that pinned him in place.

Unable to move Mark waited as a ship landed in front of him. From it came many Outerlans. One of them in particular stood out to him, as they were dressed differently from the others. This Outerlan walked over to him and stood in front of him. Mark spat on the ground where he stood, and one of the Outerlans came over and slapped him. Mark didn't care what they did, he was conserving his energy to shield himself. He was going to win this one way or another.

The important Outerlan in front of him looked down at him and said, "You have some nerve human," he said, disdain dripping off the word, "coming in here and destroying the pedestal, fighting us with whatever power it is you have. There are many good men who are dead because of you."

"Men? The men are back in the village. All I see here are a bunch of monsters!"

One of the Outerlans then raised their hand to hit him, but the important Outerlan stopped them "Don't bother wasting your energy." He then nodded at the soldiers and they surrounded him, pointing their weapons at him. This was the moment Mark had been waiting for. The important Outerlan raised his hand, then when he dropped it Mark put up his shield. As soon as the beams struck him, the shield absorbed their energy and the energy of the beams holding him. Soon the draining effect spread to machines themselves and soon all of the machines and weapons around him ceased to function. He then channeled the energy into his pendant and stood to face the important Outerlan.

As Mark approached he scurried backward. Before Mark could reach his target however, he was hit in the back of the head and quickly fell unconscious. When Mark awoke he was in a small metal room. "Good, you're finally awake." Mark turned to find the important Outerlan entering the room with other Outerlans dressed similarly to him.

"So," said Mark, turning away from his captors, "not only are you monsters, you are cowards as well."

"Don't patronize us, you should feel lucky to even be alive."

"I should be saying the same to you. So, what are you going to do with me now?"

"We have decided to make a deal with you." said one of the others. "We will test you, without you using your powers, and if you can pass then we will give your people the freedom you seek."

Mark thought about it for a moment. "What exactly would this test be?"

"Simple, survive an hour against one of our machines and we will leave your people be."

"And what if I destroy it?"

The Outerlans then began to laugh. Then one said, "Need I remind you that you will not be allowed to use your powers? If you could destroy it, which you won't, then… we'll teach your people everything we know. Our science, our technology, everything."

Mark thought about it for a few more moments, then said, "I accept."

He was then escorted to another room where he was asked to relinquish his pendant, which he did, and he was handed a weapon which he was quickly taught to use. They then brought him to a very large chamber and they left him alone. After a few minutes the room was changed into a rocky terrain. Then a very large machine was lowered into the room and he heard one of the Outerlans say, "This device was originally designed to mine comets and asteroids, but now we have weaponized it in preparation for an upcoming war. Your hour begins now." Mark then quickly ducked behind a rock as the machine quickly fired a beam at him.

For a solid half hour Mark ran from cover to cover, occasionally shooting at the machine. His attacks were having no effect. He began to think they were right, there was no way he would be able to destroy the machine. He would have to accept the fact that the most he would get is the Outerlans leaving the earth and the humans for good. At that moment Mark dodged as the machine swung one of its giant limbs at him. _The only way I could destroy this thing without my magic is through a miracle of strength._ As he thought this he fired off several more shots until his weapon finally ran out.

Suddenly Mark remembered how he had had a sudden burst of strength during the stickpull contest. He decided that he didn't have much to lose at that point, so he thought back to that day to try and remember how it happened. As he dodged the machine's attacks he couldn't think of anything, then he remembered the conversation he had with his grandfather and when he entered the contest. Both times part of a strange word repeated inside his mind. He thought for a while, and remembered the words that had been said, destined and participant. The two words began reverberating in his mind again but this time he could make out more of the first word. _Mä… Ne…_

He thought about the first word, destined, what was so special about it? His grandfather had said something about how he was destined to be with Alice. S _o much for that_ , he thought. More of the word came to him, _Mär…_ it seemed to be more focused when he applied the word to himself. _I am destined,_ he thought, remembering what Alice's mother had said about his "job" that he needed to do. _Märuk,_ he had the whole word.

He then thought of the second word, participant. _Nefe…_ he decided to apply the same logic to this word. _I am a participant._ It was definitely true, he couldn't just sit by and watch anything. _Nefetēl._ He had the whole second word. _Destined participant, Maruk Nefetēl._ At the completion of that thought he felt a wave of energy rush through him. _What would happen if I said it out loud? Only one way to find out._

Mark dodged another attack then said, "My name is Mark Nelfarn, I am a destined participant," he jumped out of the way ans another attack came. "I am Märuk Nefetēl, and I am going to win!" As the wave of energy rushed over him, his heartbeats separated and everything seemed to slow down around him. He sidestepped another swing from the machine, then ran up its limb. When he made it to the top of the limb, he punched where the limb connected to the body causing significant damage. Then another limb came and grabbed him, squeezing him before preparing to fire a beam at him.

Mark tried to break free of the machine's grip, but that part of it was far too strong. It squeezed him tighter and tighter, causing him to lose air. Instinctively he began to breathe in. Though his lungs could not quite fill to capacity, but he released his breath and everything slowed again. As the air from his lungs escaped through his mouth, a fine spray of mist also left his mouth. He then felt a sharp pain on the tip of his tongue, and as it darted back into his mouth the spray of mist burst into flames and became a jet of fire that super-heated the joints of the machine's limb. Then the machine's grip loosened and he was able to break free of its grasp.

Mark then ran up the machine again, but this time he went to where it was firing its blasts. He breathed in again and let out another jet of flame, completely melting what could best be described as its head, and spreading fire throughout the insides of the machine. As the insides of the machine melted, it soon lost all power and collapsed to the ground. With that the room returned to its original form and the Outerlans came rushing in.

Mark climbed down from the machine and was immediately surrounded by armed Outerlan soldiers. "You were specifically told not to use your powers," said one of the important ones, "and yet here you are using them. By doing so you have voided the deal, and you will be killed."

"What are you talking about? I didn't use my magic, apparently that is something I can just do."

"You... you didn't use your powers?"

"That's right, no magic was involved."

The important Outerlans then began to talk amongst themselves, then one of them turned to him and said, "If that is true then we will need to do some tests on you."

"What do you mean? I already finished your test."

"No, the tests we need to do will be to test your biology and your physical makeup."

"What for?"

"If what you claim is correct, then you aren't entirely human."

Mark stepped closer to them, still a bit skeptical, "What do you mean?"

The Outerlans looked at one another, then motioned for him to follow them as they began to leave the room. He followed, and one of them replied, "You may be part dragon."


	9. The Discoveries

For weeks on end they monitored Mark's body. Every day they started by feeding him large amounts of organic and inorganic material, then waited and studied. They had to teach him a lot as they went along, as he had been living thousands of years behind them technologically. They confirmed to him that he did have three hearts, three kinds of lungs, and a split digestive system, but they also told him things he didn't know. They revealed that he had a pair of wings embedded under the skin of his back and, as the weeks progressed, a second row of teeth.

As the weeks went on he noticed a tail beginning to grow, and an extra layer of skin grew allowing his wings to separate from his back. He also began to notice the overall change to his physical shape. His neck was becoming longer, the ratios of his limbs were changing, and after a while it became easier for him to walk on his hands and feet than on his feet alone. Eventually he sprouted horns, claws, and scales. After a three month long process, Mark had fully transformed into a dragon.

There were also several other things he learned during those three months. The main thing he learned was that a little over five hundred years had passed since he had gone to the pedestal for healing. He was surprised when they told him this, but they explained that dragons could potentially live for millions of years under the right circumstances. He also learned that his hair, which he did not ever think of dragons as having, was not only present but also a type of scale that dragons had for protective and aesthetic purposes.

Upon confirming that Mark was really a dragon, the Outerlans began the preparations needed to fully incorporate the humans into their society. During that time he was further studied as he got used to his dragon form. After all of the tests were completed he took another three months to turn back into his normal form.

He then spent the next three thousand years learning as much as he could from the Outerlans and from ancient tablets left behind by the dragons. He learned more about dragons, their culture, their magic, and their science. He learned, from the tablets, about higher dimensions and other universes. At the time though, he had no interest in leaving his universe.

One day though, he was using his dragon magic to view events of the past. He learned more about his family line, and how many of his ancestors had come from other universes. He also learned that Alice's parents and grandmother were not from that universe.

There were also things he learned that he would have been much happier not knowing. He learned that his dislike of long hair, that had been subconsciously suppressed until the outburst in his tower, had been magically passed down to him from an ancestor that was an almost entirely insane wizard. He learned that the pranks he pulled on girls as a kid had been because of this dislike, and Alice had not been pranked because she kept her hair short. But worst of all, he learned what truly happened the day before Alice had been found dead.

He watched the events of that day, reminiscing on the good times, until he came to the conversation they had at the tree. He felt a wave of disgust wash over him as he watched Alice reveal her hair, disgust which was directed at the hair and the wizard ancestor that caused his dislike of it, and watched as his past self doubled over from the headache. But then he began to see things he didn't remember happening. His past self stood up straight once more and said in a low voice dripping with anger, "Why have you been hiding this from me?"

"What do you-" she had started to say as she turned around. She then gasped in fear and shock, shock that easily rivaled his own as he watched, when she saw how angry his past self looked. Mark wanted to look away, but his own shock kept him frozen and watching.

"Why have you been hiding this from me!?" His past self screamed, causing both him and Alice to flinch.

"I... my grandmother..." she stammered.

"Don't dodge the question. Answer me!"

"I... I knew you wouldn't like it, b-but both my grandmother and my mother asked me not to cut it."

"You were right, I don't like it. In fact, I HATE IT!" Mark's past self covered his face with his hand and began cursing under his breath. He then looked up and said, "Because I love you, I will give you until the time of the wedding to cut your hair. If it isn't cut short by then, then the marriage is off." At that Alice fell to her knees sobbing. Mark didn't know how to process what he saw. It almost didn't seem real to him, but he knew this had happened.

After a minute or two Alice calmed down enough to stand again. She turned away from Mark and said, "I'll do it. I'll go cut it right now."

"Good." As his past self said this, a gust of wind blew past again causing him to double over once more.

Alice pulled up her hood and said, "I'll see you tomorrow." and she walked away.

Mark was stunned. Given what he learned the reactions his past self had were not surprising, but he had no idea it had happened. Were there other thoughts and events his subconscious was keeping from him? As soon as he thought that though, he felt a knot in his stomach as he remembered that he had two of those headaches that day. He quickly shifted the focus of the spell to the side of the ravine where he had the other headache.

Only a few hours after the incident at the tree, Alice was sitting on the side of the ravine. She was holding the knife she had just used to cut her hair and was looking down into the ravine. After a few moments Mark's past self could be seen on his usual route back home. Once again his past self experienced the headache and once again recovered from it. His past self then began walking toward Alice. He then had a sinking feeling in his gut as he guessed what was coming, but hoping that it wasn't the case.

When studying dragon culture Mark had learned about something dragon children did when learning to fly. Typically they jumped off of high places in order to learn how to fly, if the height was great enough their instincts would kick in and save them. Sometimes though, a dragon child would hesitate jumping off. This would lead their nest mates to push them off so their instincts could take over. The dragons had speculated that it was hereditary and subconscious. It made sense for dragons doing it, but not humans.

Mark watched in horror as his guess proved true and his past self pushed Alice off the side of the ravine shouting, "Trust your instincts!" He tried to reach out and save her with his magic, but quickly remembered that he was watching the past. What he did not expect was to see a pair of wings with ripped and bloody skin burst from underneath her cloak as she fell. In their damaged condition the wings were unable to help her as she fell. She hit the ground and Mark's past self turned and walked back to his path. At the bottom of the ravine Alice tried to stand, the fall not being great enough to kill her, but was unable to in her weakened condition. She soon passed out and later died from the loss of blood.

Mark ended his spell and sat in silence for an hour. Feelings of rage and despair filled him as he realized that all of this had happened because he and Alice were both half dragon. He surrounded his tower with a barrier and raged inside for days, spouting his growing hatred for the dragons. With the dragons as a culture having disappeared numberless eons ago, he decided to take his hatred of dragons out on himself and end his life. He tried everything within his power from magic to science to in between, but was unable to die.

Having exhausted everything, Mark collapsed to the ground and wept. He then remembered what Alice's mother had told him, and came to the conclusion that her curse was keeping him from dying. Until he broke the curse, he would have to live in misery. He didn't even know what it was that he was supposed to do, so there was a real possibility that he would continue to live for all eternity. With that revelation he was overcome with grief and slid into a mourning coma, as typically happened to dragons faced with extreme and uncontrollable despair. And thus he slept for thousands of years.


	10. The End and The Beginning

When Mark woke from his coma he could immediately tell something wasn't right. He didn't know what it was, but he could tell that something was off. He didn't even know where this feeling came from. Everything around him seemed fine, but he still had a nagging suspicion that there was something wrong with the universe. In order to try and quell this feeling he went to the Outerlans to see if anything suspicious was going on.

The Outerlans confirmed his suspicion. When he asked them if anything was going on he learned that an unknown form of energy was being detected throughout the universe. This energy was described as having the ability to break the bonds of matter. The first readings of this energy had been detected a few hundred years previous and they had been researching ways to stop or counteract it, but with no conclusive results. He joined them in their research for a few hundred years.

Eventually Mark abandoned scientific means. Due to a lack ability to test them, there were several potential protective measures that were left in the prototype stage. He finally decided to use magic and went to his tower to consult his spellbook. He found a spell in the void element that was capable of preventing physical and magical, and therefore energy, forces from passing through. He quickly practiced the spell a few times in order to make sure he had it down, then he made preparations to expand. He knew that he wouldn't be able to protect the whole universe with that spell, but he knew that he had to protect as much as he could.

Mark knew that it would require a substantial amount of energy to create the shield so he went around and gathered up as many high energy foods as he could. He then combined them together until they were liquified and put the mixture in a replication pocket dimension. After tasting the horrible mess he decided to just place it directly into his stomachs with portals. After ingesting the mixture for a few days straight he decided he was ready.

Because of the nature of the spell he decided to place it over the sun last. He decided to start with the moon, as there were the least number of problems to arise from doing so. He began creating the barrier around the moon and it took several days. Though he had heard from the Outerlans how big the moon was, he never quite understood exactly how big it was until then. Once the barrier around the moon was finished he added a spell to it to allow it to be sustained by absorbing energy that touched it, allowing him to release his energy from it. He then did the same with the Earth. To make things easier he sent a request to the Outerlans to have all of the world's people stay inside their homes.

It was when he began working on the barrier for the sun that problems began to arise. He received word that the energy was fast approaching the solar system and would be there in a matter of minutes. To give himself more wiggle room he paused time around him so he could work. He soon realized though that he would need far more energy to protect the sun, due to it producing large amounts of energy itself.

Then he realized that his pocket dimension, which normally gathered material for replication from free floating things in the universe, was now forced to gather from what was available within the barrier surrounding Earth. He checked his food stores and saw that it was dwindling as all his food, and presumably all food found on the Earth, was being picked apart to sustain his casting the spell. He knew that soon, with no more inanimate things lying around, it would soon start taking from living things.

To give himself more energy he began shrinking the barrier around Earth and put the extra air in a pocket dimension to keep the pressure normal. Eventually the barrier was floating only feet away from everything on Earth and he still had a decent sized gap in the sun barrier. He knew he could close the gap if he shrank the Earth barrier so it touched the entire surface, but he would risk harming or even killing all of the animals on the land. He tried thinking of different ways to accomplish the same thing when a thought occurred to him.

At that time all of the people on the Earth were living in very large closed cities around the world. Each of these cities, complete with domes to protect from the weather, all took up substantial surface areas. Mark quickly realized that he had a very hard choice to make. He could either hug the surface of the planet and risk killing all the surface animals, which would lead to serious environmental and ecological system harm, or he could place the barrier under all of the cities and end up letting all of the people be destroyed. Both of these would result in enough surface area to fill the gap, but he didn't want either of those to occur.

He thought about it for a long time. He tried coming up with other solutions, maybe he could keep time paused, maybe he could get rid of the moon, but with each new solution he came up with there were far more severe consequences. Eventually he made up his mind and went with the plan that would have the least amount of repercussions on the functionality of the Earth. He placed the barrier directly under each of the cities and closed the gap in the sun barrier. He then resumed time and waited in agony and guilt as the energy swept by.

He left the now self sustaining barriers up and slept as he had stayed awake for several weeks with any and all energy and nourishment from his food being used to create the spells. Becoming fully rested however, he soon realized several things his tired and weakened mind had not. The most important being that he could have used the energy from the sun to fuel the barrier. With this revelation, and unsure whether or not it was safe to take the barrier down, he altered the barrier around the sun to absorb the sun's energy and extended it to connect to the barriers around the Earth and the moon.

After extending the barrier to contain the entirety of his now much smaller solar system, Mark once again fell into a coma of mourning after leveling a mountain in rage. After coming out of said coma he began to study his spellbook. Using information he had gained from materials left behind by the dragons he managed to create a spell that allowed him to see outside the barrier by using the fourth dimension as a conduit. He found that the energy was gone, but what was left was a soup of disconnected protons neutrons and electrons.

With nothing else to do, Mark began studying the fourth dimension. Through his study he found that he could access other universes. He had every intention of leaving his universe and finding another, in the hopes of breaking his curse so he could die, but something inside him wouldn't let him just leave his home behind. He consulted his spellbook and found that he could both stay and leave by making clones of himself. These magical clones would be an exact replica of him in every way, would be able to move about and do things on their own, and could fuse back together with him to share their memories.

Mark made many clones of himself and sent them out into the multiverse. As the years passed, clones of the clones he sent would come and fuse with him and share the memories with him. Most of the clones went to very mundane universes in search of the one to breaks his curse. Some of his clones went out simply to learn about the various universes and his knowledge grew substantially. But there was one clone in particular that was rather different. He would go to random universes and would come back from wild adventures. Eventually he decided to leave a clone of himself behind in his universe so he personally could go out on adventures.

With what remained of his universe acting as a central hub, Mark left to scour the multiverse for adventure. Having no idea where, when, or what he would find as he randomly hopped universes, he left to experience as many as was possible. And with infinite possibilities, he knew he would be kept busy for a long time.

* * *

Finally, the end of the first arc. Now we move into the actual fanfiction. I will be doing an extra chapter in between arcs, that will help tie up any other loose ends left by an arc. So now that Mark's intro is out of the way, the next universe he will be visiting is that of the Blegariad/Malloreon. In most universes he visits, Mark will be following the plot, and I will be skipping over some things, so if you want the full story, go to the original source.


	11. Recording No 1

Just so you know, whenever you see an ellipses (...) There is a pause where Tēref is writing down notes.

* * *

Beginning of recording.

Tēref: Okay Mark, now that you've had the chance to look over the draft, what do you think?

Mark: It is all exactly how I remember it.

Tēref: Thank you. I do my best to make sure everything is accurate. So before we move on to the next set of memories there are a few questions I was hoping you could answer.

Mark: Of course, I can do that. Ask away.

Tēref: What percentage of your DNA is dragon, and which of your ancestors was dragon.

Mark: I am a half dragon and my mother was the dragon.

Tēref: And those words you had never heard before, what were they and what exactly do they mean?

Mark: Those were words in Löfē Duregä, the language of the dragons, and they are my dragon name. After a dragon is born the mother, or the father if the mother has passed or is not a dragon, studies the child and examines their personality. Once their personality is identified a two part name, consisting of an adjective and a noun, is given to them. This name is very important as it helps the child find out who they are and stay true to themselves.

Tēref: Is it possible for a dragon to change their name?

Mark: Yes, but it is a long and difficult process. They would have to completely change who they are as an individual, which is no easy feat. I've read stories some of the dragons left behind where a dragon was driven mad trying to change their name. Needless to say it takes a lot of preparation and force of will to do it. Most dragons don't though because they are happy with who they are.

Tēref: Did you ever find out what happened to your sister?

Mark: Yes, when those not affiliated with the rebellion left the village, she was in the care of my grandmother. My grandmother and grandfather had gotten separated in the group and she ended up getting lost in the woods. She and my sister were found by a lone dragon who had been wandering the universe. He took them with him to another universe. I ended up meeting her in my travels, so I shall save the details for when we get to those memories.

...

Tēref: Next question. In regards to the rebellion your mother started, do you think the Outerlans were over confident in their ability to quell said rebellion given that your mother was a dragon?

Mark: If they had known she was a dragon they probably would have been more hesitant. Given their level of technology they had nothing to worry about.

Tēref: If your mother was a dragon then how was she so easily defeated? When you were attacked by them you were able to handle yourself fairly well.

Mark: I would guess that it was because of how young she was. I would say she was only a few hundred years old at most. As with any other creature, dragons are able to do more with age and experience. I would say I had maybe three hundred years on her when I took on the Outerlans, and I hadn't become fully aware of my dragon abilities yet. Had I been able to turn into a dragon before that, I probably could have lasted much longer.

Tēref: So your mother was decently older than your father?

Mark: Yes, but in dragon culture age doesn't really mean anything. Due to their incredibly long lifespans dragons never really lose the ability to have children. So for a dragon, once they reach maturity they are a viable candidate for courtship. So for marriage, age doesn't really mean anything.

Änēl: That actually makes sense. I guess that explains why I'm fairly comfortable with the fact that you're billions of years older than me.

Tēref: But there is part of you that is uncomfortable with it correct?

Änēl: Well yes, but I think that has to do with the fact that I'm only quarter dragon.

...

Tēref: What exactly happened to the dragons? Since you only had records to learn from it seems like they went extinct.

Mark: Well, yes and no. As a culture they died out anciently, but there are still some solitary dragons. It turns out there were many that left on their own initiative to their universes, which is why there are so many universes that have what people consider dragons, so technically they are still around. There are probable thousands or more scattered throughout the multiverse that don't even know they have dragon ancestry.

Tēref: And what do you mean by what people consider dragons?

Mark: Given the nature of the multiverse there are bound to be those universes where dragons, and even the idea of dragons, never existed. In those instances if a dragon were to enter one of those universes the universe will then try to compensate by making its own. Depending on how long a dragon was in a particular universe, that universe's creation may be closer or farther from the original. That's why there is such diversity in what people call dragons. They're all just overgrown lizards though, even the ones that are very close.

...

Tēref: Why exactly did the Outerlans put a restriction on the number of children the humans could have? Was it just them exercising their power or were they trying to keep them from becoming too numerous?

Mark: Really you could say it was a bit of both. However, they mostly wanted greater control over us as their subjects of study. Before they came to earth they had never come in contact with sentient life. Part of the reason they left some of the humans alive was to see how other sentient life functioned in a controlled environment. That is also the reason they restricted our technology. Given enough time they would have slowly started introducing new tech.

Tēref: Speaking of the technology, how long did it take for the humans to become accustomed to all of the Outerlans' technology that was suddenly dumped on them?

Mark: From what I understand it took a few generations for them to become fully integrated.

...

Tēref: Okay. Now, how did you learn about your family history? Did the Outerlans keep genealogical records for the humans?

Mark: The Outerlans did keep records of human family lines, but it was more for medical records than anything. It allowed them to track and study hereditary diseases. As for how I learned of my ancestry, I learned it when I used my magic to view the past.

Tēref: I see. Did you ever try to meet any of your ancestors?

Mark: No, back in those days I was very hesitant about going back in time. I had many logic debates with myself about the possible consequences. I decided it wasn't worth the potential paradoxes.

Änēl: Why would paradoxes be a problem? Wouldn't they just work themselves out?

Mark: That entirely depends on how each universe handles them. Some universes split into alternate timelines, therefore eliminating the paradox, while others cause the one who caused it to cease existing from the entire timeline. Unfortunately it isn't something you can easily test, as if it ends up being the latter then there would be no way to find out as no one would remember you.

Tēref: Would you consider trying to see them now?

Mark: No, the paradox risk is still too high for me to take. Besides, due to the energy that swept through my universe I think my universe's history really only exists within my memory now.

Tēref: What about the Nelfarns that came before Tom, did you ever go and visit them?

Mark: Yes, but that is a section of memories that we will come across at a later session. Let's just say that it was a big adventure in and of itself.

...

Tēref: What did the Outerlans look like?

Mark: I'm not exactly sure I remember. That was billions of years ago for me, tens of millions if we aren't thinking about my collective lifespan, and I didn't really have a lot of interactions with them. I know they were Sapius in form, and I think their skin had a bit of a bluish hue, but I'm not entirely sure.

Tēref: Sapius? Do you mean humanoid?

Mark: It's the same thing, I just prefer to use Sapius because there are many creatures that have similar body structures besides humans.

Tēref: I see... do you remember what any of the Outerlans' technology looked like?

Mark: Only vaguely. The only one I can really recall is the large weaponized mining machine. I think it almost had an insectoid like appearance. It had several sets of limbs and devices that were originally meant for grabbing mined material.

Tēref: And you don't remember anything else about them?

Mark: No.

...

Tēref: How did your transformation into a dragon start, was it something the Outerlans caused or was there some other driving force behind it?

Mark: It was by my dragon name. From the records the dragons left behind I found that , depending on whether the parents were in their dragon or Sapius forms, dragon children could be born in dragon or Sapius form. If born in a Sapius form the child needed to gain an understanding of themselves through their dragon name. This is one of the many things that make their names so important to them. Once they come to that understanding, it starts a reaction in the brain that starts the transformation. After the initial transformation they can then change forms whenever they choose. Though the process doesn't last as long as mine did, as they use magic to speed up the process.

Tēref: So what happens when you change into your Sapius form, does everything revert to a full human appearance?

Mark: Technically speaking, no. There are several dragon characteristics that linger after the transformation. The wings are always there, though not trapped under the skin like they were before, and I still have my horns and tail. In this form though they are much smaller and a lot easier to hide. The second row of teeth is still there, but I can hide that with magic.

Tēref: What are the two rows of teeth for?

Mark: The first row is sharp, and what people typically think when they think of dragons, and are used for eating meat. The second row is for crushing and grinding everything else.

...

Tēref: The Outerlans were telepathic correct? Did you ever learn telepathy from them, or is it even something that can be taught?

Mark: I think they did try and teach some of the humans, but I never took them up on it. It would have been better if I had though, there are some situations that would have been a little less awkward. It would have been a lot easier for me to pick it up than other humans though, due to dragons being naturally telepathic as well.

Tēref: Is that why the dragons' language is fairly simplistic?

Mark: Yes. They developed telepathy while their language was still young. They used it in conjunction with their speaking and writing though. That's why anyone without telepathic ability doesn't get the full message when they read the written language.

Tēref: I see. Now, do you think any of the Outerlans could have survived?

Mark: No, they were all in the cities. I was the only person left in my universe.

...

Tēref: What about your spellbook, how exactly does it work? Would it eventually run out of pages?

Mark: No, it won't run out of pages. I actually keep it on me at all times.(thump) It is actually a very complex system of spells. You can actually think of it as functioning like a website back in the days of the internet. Basically all of the spell information is stored in a pseudo dimension woven into the pages. Due to the sheer amount of mana placed in it and the amount it absorbs in mana rich environments it has potentially limitless amounts of spells it can hold while being bound to a limited number of pages.

Tēref: And how is it organized?

Mark: It's organized however I want. When I was first studying it I had it organized by the element of the spell, but after I began picking up spells from many different universes I began organizing them by universe. And any time there are duplicates, or nearly duplicate as the case may be, the spells are consolidated to whichever is simplest.

Tēref: And what about your clones, did they have access to it?

Mark: Yes, I keep the original on me and I used a spell that allows regular blank books to be used as a sort of access terminal. My clones carry the blank books and use the spell to access my book.

Tēref: Of course... Okay, I think that is everything for now.

Änēl: So why did you need to ask him these questions?

Tēref: I need to make sure all of my information is correct. If even part of it is incorrect I would be betraying myself. I am the Truthful Writer after all.

Änēl: Right, I should have realized, sorry.

Tēref: That's all right. Now Mark, are you ready for me to start working on the next set of memories?

Mark: Yes.

End recording.

* * *

And with that, The first arc comes to a close. These recordings chapters are going to take place after every arc and will be there to clear anything up from the arc it follows. If when reading you find something you don't understand, feel free to PM me. The questions you ask will be used in future recordings chapters, and i will also send you a response PM to answer directly. If you have questions about an arc that has already finished and your question was not answered in the recording, PM me and i will answer you.

Next up, The Belgariad/Malloreon by David Eddings

P.S. If anyone is wondering, this story is on hiatus while I work on the next arc, mostly reading the story again, so things should be up and running again by August or September. And please follow and leave reviews. Thanks.


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